The Utah Jazz are sitting at 5-11 and 12th in the western conference along with 23rd overall in the league. Markkanen however has been having a great year. 23.7 ppg on 48.4 field goal shooting.
Instead of trading him for young talent and picks, would it be smart for the Jazz to draft a top player in the draft and keep Markkanen all at the same time?
If they trade him, then they basically have to start all over but they could always just keep him and go for a top 5 pick regardless if the Jazz wanted to. The playoffs seem out of reach for Utah this year.
His value won’t get worse on a max contract, he’s a max player, and being signed to a longer contract is better for his value.