It is the duty of good and popular teams to remain good and popular and for other, worse teams to give the good teams their best players? I think that’s how it works, anyway. Any time a more, uh, recognizable franchise in the league is falling short of expectations in some fashion and there is a quality player on some lame, no-name team who hanging tantalizingly on a branch like some kind of trade-shaped citrus fruit, the stories start.
How can Team [X] get Player [Y]?
Is Player [Z] worth all the assets Team [1] has?
Wait, what happened with Jae Crowder?
The good player goes to the good team. The bad team is supposed to be happy about it. It’s just good practice. That’s the way it is, so that’s the way it’s supposed to be. And if it’s not going to be this way, then the only way it’s going to change is by doing what we used to do instead.
The Warriors may be lucky they didn't pull off a trade for Lauri Markkanen
One of these good teams is the Golden State Warriors. They used to have players like Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in their prime on their team, but now they have Podz and the odor of the James Wiseman pick that seriously will not go away. They want to improve. National discourse demands they improve.
They have been long linked to Lauri Markkenen of the Utah Jazz. At one point making an “aggressive” offer according to NBC Sports Bay Area. That offer did not include Kuminga, which is funny in retrospect.
The offer did not go through. The good team remained good, and the Utah Jazz remained … whatever it is that they’re trying to be. Good job, sport.
By some valuations, the Warriors may have lucked out. In an article on Bleacher Report, Lauri Markkanen is listed as a bad contract. Like a real bad contract. According to the article, one Eastern Conference executive called the contract “the worst in the league.”
Well, you don’t want that on your team. Markkanen had an impressive 2022-2023 campaign, but has kind of plateaued or even topped out since that point. He’s gone from looking like an All-Star to looking like a bit of a reclamation project.
The Warriors ultimately ended up with Jimmy Butler, so one probably thinks this all worked out for them. I’m still left wondering about Markkanen, though. Has he peaked already? He’s not an old player, but believe me: repeated, pounding failure ages you.