Through two seasons with the Jazz, Markkanen’s desire to play playoff basketball — something he has yet to do in his seven years in the NBA — has not been enough to sway the Jazz from depleting the roster at the trade deadline in favor of losses and better lottery odds. But Markkanen has already changed the trajectory of the Utah Jazz’s rebuild, and he hopes that he can continue to speed up the procedure
When the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and received Markkanen as part of the incoming package in that deal, they knew they were getting a good player, but they didn’t know he would quickly leap into being one of the 30 best players in the league.
The Jazz would have probably preferred a team that didn’t start out the 2022-23 season with a 10-3 record. They probably would have preferred an easier path to being one of the teams with top odds at landing Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 draft. They might have preferred a longer and and more deliberate blueprint after blowing up the previous roster, but Markkanen’s ascendance to becoming an All-Star and the NBA’s 2023 Most Improved Player meant that leaning into a complete tank job would be near impossible.
One of the biggest questions about Markkanen heading into the 2023-24 season was whether what he did in the previous season was sustainable. Was 2022-23 a fluke, or was Markkanen for real? This season, he proved that he is entering his prime and that he is ready to compete at the highest levels. That means that the Jazz still can’t quite turn on full tank mode, not while Markkanen is around.
So instead of quietly leaning into a full youth movement, the Jazz have to start thinking about experienced players that they can add to the roster over the next couple of years in order to capitalize on what they have in Markkanen.
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