Lauri Markkanen is staying with the Utah Jazz.
On Wednesday, Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN shared that Markkanen has agreed to a five-year, $238 million contract extension with the team.
Utah Jazz All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen has signed a five-year, $238 million contract renegotiation and extension โ including $220 million in new money, his agent Michael Lelchitski of @SIGSports tells ESPN.
โ Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn)
Jazz’s Future Plans:
By keeping Markkanen, the Jazz show they believe in their young players like Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier. They might aim for the play-in tournament next season and hope to be the 10th seed in playoffs. Last season, Utah finished 12th in the Western Conference with a record of 31-51 and missed out on postseason action.
This summer, there were rumors about Markkanen joining teams like San Antonio Spurs or Golden State Warriors. But he chose to stay with Utah. In his two years with the Jazz, he has averaged 24.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game . Before coming to Utah from Cleveland, his highest average was just 18.7 points.
Fans might think this move shows confidence in building around young talent.
Markkanen had a rough start with Chicago Bulls after being drafted by Minnesota in 2017 but traded to Chicago right away. He never played for Minnesota Timberwolves. During his time in Chicago, he averaged only 15.6 points and shot .509 from the floor.
In August 2021, he joined Cleveland Cavaliers through a sign-and-trade deal but played only one season there before moving to Utah as part of Donovan Mitchell’s trade deal in September 2022.
Despite Markkanenโs strong performance last season, the Jazz have not made it back into playoffs since their run during the 2021-22 season.
Offensively speaking though – they did well! The team ranked eleventh overall averaging an impressive scoreline of 115.7 points. However defensively they struggled big time giving up an average of about120 PPG which was second worst across all teams!
With Lauri staying put; can we expect better defense next year?
What do you think about this decision?
