The Utah Jazz have made their intentions very clear, they plan on keeping Lauri Markkenan for the long-term

The Utah Jazz gave up four-time all-star Donovan Mithell in the offseason and acquired Lauri Markenan, Collin Sexton, and two first-round picks. Their biggest surprise coming out of that trade was the production they’ve gotten from Lauri Markkenan. He went from a third or fourth scoring option in Cleveland to Utah’s #1 scoring option in one year. His elite play this season has the Jazz thinking about signing the one-time all-star to a long-term contract. 

Markkenan was one of two players that Utah deemed untouchable at the trade deadline and that speaks to how highly they value him. He hasn’t completed a full season yet and the Jazz are ready to give him a long-term deal. The 25-year-old was a fine player with Chicago and Cleveland, but his game exploded to a new level this season, and looks to have found a new home with Utah.

NBA betting sites have the Jazz at (+100000) to win the Finals this season.

Lauri Markkanen is the FIRST player in NBA history to put up these numbers in a season 😮 pic.twitter.com/hbl4IVXhAZ

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 3, 2023

Lauri Markkenan has flourished in his first season with the Utah Jazz

It’s been a breakout year for Lauri Markkenan in his first season with the Utah Jazz. He credits his playing time over the summer with the Finnish National team getting him prepared for the season. Markkenan said he felt great heading into training camp and he carried that into the regular season.

His (25.6) points, (8.6) rebounds, (1.9) assists, and (.499) field-goal percentage are all career highs this season. He has 15 30-point games this season and also set a new career-high with 49 points. In a recent interview with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the one-time all-star opened up about his career and what Jazz CEO Danny Ainge told him about his future with the team.

“Yeah, it felt good knowing that – even though it’s a business and if the right deal comes along, you could still get traded – it definitely felt good to hear that so we could get out of our apartment and we have a new place (house) to live in now with my family. It was a good feeling to get that approval from the front office.” – Lauri Markkenan

The Jazz are currently 12th in the West with four games left in the regular season. They are not out of it yet and are only one and a half games back from the 10th.