If Cameron Boozer is the play, is the Finnisher nearly finished in Utah?
The Utah Jazz can add the finishing touch to their prolonged rebuild this year, thanks to their favorable position in an exceptional NBA Draft class. Likely coming away with one of BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Kansas' Darryn Peterson, and Duke's Cameron Boozer, Utah stands to pick from one of three incredible prospects, obscured only by whoever the Wizards decide to snatch with the number-one pick.
But rumors continue to build in connection with the Jazz's interest in Boozer, the reigning National Player of the Year and athlete considered by analytics apologists as the best prospect in the class, and those rumors have gone as far as to push a frontcourt pairing of Boozer and Jaren Jackson Jr.
I cannot properly express just how horrifying it is to not even see Lauri Markkanen's name mentioned in this report.
Lauri Markkanen has been the focal point of the Utah Jazz's rebuild since the very first season. He was a bit of a footnote in the Donovan Mitchell trade that sent Utah's All-Star guard to Cleveland for Collin Sexton, newly drafted Ochai Agbaji, and a handful of draft picks, and, of course, Markkanen.
Of those players, Markkanen is the only one to remain with the Jazz today, and the team's most recent All-Star honoree. He won the NBA's Most Improved Player Award in his first season with the Jazz by pushing his points per game average to an absurd 25.6 -- a number only bested by last season's 26.5, a number eclipsed in a much smaller sample size.
Lauri is a rare commodity as a 7-footer with an excellent shooting stroke and posts volume shooting splits despite not being primarily an off-ball scorer. The Jazz have uncovered something exceptional in Markkanen, and that's why they view him as a load-bearing pillar of their team's construction.
He's now played in Utah longer than in any other spot throughout his nine-year NBA career, and is a foundational piece of a Jazz team that is finally prepared to shed its training wheels and pedal off into the apocalyptic war zone of the Western Conference Playoffs.
But if the rumors surrounding Cameron Boozer are true, Utah's front court would be cramped with both Boozer and Markkanen pairing alongside Jaren Jackson Jr and (hopefully) Walker Kessler.
These rumors should all be taken with a grain of salt, and this report could be a tactic to gauge interest from teams in a trade-up for Boozer or a trade for Markkanen (the Pistons have been a popular candidate). But considering that either AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson -- both of which would be a better fit with Utah's current roster -- will be available at the second pick, it's hard to imagine Utah want to put even more uncertainty on the conscience of their front office.
