The Utah Jazz didn't trade Markkanen for the past four seasons; they're not going to trade him now.
Basketball is a youth-driven sport, and the NBA, therefore, is a youth-driven league. Rebuilding teams hunt for draft picks instead of veterans. Prospects are valued by their youth nearly as much as they're valued by their talent. The Utah Jazz have spent the past three seasons ejecting their veteran players in favor of up-and-coming youngsters.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA Finals a season ago behind their vibrant young core -- the San Antonio Spurs nearly did the same when they defeated the reigning champs and represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Younger players are cheaper to sign and cheaper to retain than a seven-year star, and when those younger players are capable of making a championship push, why not lean on the future to succeed in the present?
Well, the push toward a younger generation of basketball stars has pushed a bit too far, driving forward a narrative that players are only useful so long as they're youthful -- to the point of suggesting that 29-year-old Lauri Markkanen is about to age himself out of Utah's long-term plans.
Don't believe me? Take a scan of this recent article from Bleacher Report that suggests Markkanen could be a surprise trade candidate.
"A core of Peterson, Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, and Jackson are all 26 or younger. Markkanen, meanwhile, will turn 30 next spring and doesn't fit the timeline of this group. He's also taking a starting spot away from Peterson or Bailey, the two players with the highest ceilings on this team."
I'm so sick of timelines.
The suggestion that a player cannot contribute to a championship push beyond his 30th birthday is absurd, especially considering Markkanen just posted a career-high in points per game last year with 26.7 -- 9th most in the entire NBA (on an admittedly low sample size of 42 games).
The San Antonio Spurs just proved that a team can compete with a superstar younger than 23. Utah hopes that Darryn Peterson can be just that.
The New York Knicks, on the other hand, proved that veteran know-how and mid-prime All-Stars can not only bring home the Finals trophy; they can also win Finals MVP. Just ask 29-year-old Jalen Brunson, 29-year-old OG Anunoby, and 30-year-old Karl-Anthony Towns.
Lauri Markkanen will probably never be the best player on a championship team, but he still serves a critical purpose for the rising Utah Jazz. His trade value was higher in his first three seasons with the Jazz, and Utah never dealt their star. If he was worth keeping then, he's certainly worth keeping now, no matter how you view Utah's "timeline".
