REPORTS: Lauri Markkanen AVAILABLE In Trade Should Phoenix Suns SWOOP In?

REPORTS: Lauri Markkanen AVAILABLE In Trade Should Phoenix Suns SWOOP In?

You probably have to send Come on Malawatch and then do you have to send Orion Dunn. Let’s talk a little Larry Markin. According to SI’s Chris Manx, uh he reports that the Utah Jazz are quote very open to the idea of trading the former all-star sometime this season. Uh not surprising, Stephen, but of course where the Suns stand right now, a lot of people are going to tie them into any trade rumors to acquire some top end talent. Mhm. Would you consider Lowry Markin top end talent? Well, a question for you and Eritton. Um, would you all be interested in a near sevenfooter that can put the ball on the deck, that can run inverted pick and rolls, that can be a a rebounding u machine at times, that can provide rim protection, that has plus athleticism at his position. All while his hallmark skill set that’s going to drive the level of success and value he adds to a team being the ability to stretch the floor, play the four and the five and knocking down threes at an elite clip while also being able to pass the ball some. Sounds awful. [Laughter] No, I think I think Larry Markin as far as like a player fit goes, you you like it, especially alongside Devin Booker to get a a shooting big or you know, at least a shooting four, somebody who can do all the things that you just said. I don’t think a lot of people’s questions as to trading for Larry Markin come from how he plays. I I think it’s a what you would have to give up to get him and b how much he makes, which those two things go hand in hand. Larry Markin makes 46.3. We can round it up because it’s almost 46.4 million. The Suns, a trade of Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks does work. Uh I don’t know if Utah would do that. Utah would probably want uh one of your young players. So you would maybe have to throw in a Ryan Dunn in there, which of course still works moneywise. Maybe you would have to throw in a Kaman Malawatch there, which of course would still work moneywise. The reality of the situation is we just saw a team build around three high paid players and it didn’t work. So I don’t know if you can build a good team around Devin Booker, Jaylen Green, and Lowry Markin. So the question is, do you a want to give up and trade Jaylen Green and B would the Utah Jazz even want him as the centerpiece of a package? Uh well I can tell you right now the Utah Jazz do not want another guard with that roster that they have right now. They already have a glutton of guards that all can do things in a different way from one another, but they just traded Ky and Sexton to open up some space. They still don’t. It’s like when you go in your phone and you delete photos because you’re trying to create space and you just don’t have any after deleting 50 some odd picture. I just went through that. That’s why it’s very fresh in my memory. They don’t want another guard. So, I imagine he gets rerouted to a 13. But I the question for me is and I would love both of y’all’s opinions. Is Lowi Markin a better fit next to Devin Booker than Jaylen Green is in respect to what we’ve seen as the context that you’re not is establishing right now as well? I think so. I think it’s tough because we haven’t seen Jaylen Green play next to Devin Booker, but obviously you’re looking at two shooting guards there. I mean, I think just positionally speaking and you can tell me if you disagree. I think positionally speaking that’s a pretty yes answer that he would be a better fit. Yeah, I think definitely. I touched on it yesterday kind of with the Bradley Beal and the Jaylen Green comparisons that chat was throwing out, but the game that Jaylen plays is so much different than Bradley Beal. And that’s also the same when it comes to Lowry, too. Their games are just so much different. And it Stephen said in the chat here, Lori is kind of like the anti-done. He’s got offense, but the defense isn’t really there. I kind of agree with this a little bit and I would like to see Ryan Dunn’s defense in our system first. So, let’s talk about this then. Let’s say they they don’t want Jaylen Green. The Jaylen Green third team thing. I mean, by all reports, that wasn’t really an option in the Kevin Durant trade. I’m going to say it’s probably not an option, you know, for Phoenix. So, keeping Book and Green, how could the Suns find a way to get Lowry Markin in? Well, Dylan Brooks has got to be a main salary piece going out. So, you’re losing that grit, that determination that Dylan Brook springs. You got to throw Grayson Allen in there, of course, also for salary purposes. And then you’re looking at two veteran forwards for a team in Utah. The Suns don’t have a first round pick that they could trade right now. It’s an age running the show. So, you know, they want a first round pick. So, what do you have to send in exchange? Well, you probably have to send Kaman Malawatch. And then, do you have to send a Ryan Dunn, right? Do you have to send a more proven young player than somebody who hasn’t played it? And obviously you get in the season maybe you see different things when the more I look at this Stephen and as much as I love in theory the fit of Lowry Markin. This is not something that if I’m the Phoenix Suns front office that I’m rushing to do. I think who you have to give up and how you’ve built this roster and all the great things that we’ve talked about it. I I don’t know if I want to sacrifice that just yet. I want to maybe see how this rolls and then maybe at the trade deadline we can revisit this. But as of right now, I I’m good because A, Lowry’s contract is huge. B, you’re either giving up Jaylen Green plus stuff or a bunch of stuff because you don’t have draft picks. And I just think that’s too much of a hit to the to the young core that you’ve built. As of right now, my opinion could maybe change later. Um, I I understand that for sure. That’s a lot to have to give up to get him in return. And you don’t, and that’s why I’m emphasizing for the Suns going into this season, finding ways to reestablish your treasure trove of assets. Yeah. Especially on the draft capital side because that makes making decisions like this a lot easier without having to gut your talent that you have already on your roster to appease a team and make that trade happen. So, I hear you on that part. Um, question for you though. What if Jordan is brought a proposition in terms of the Larry market and trade template and he feels that Larry is a piece that will add more value to the system that he’s establishing obviously around Devin Booker but also in tandem with someone like Mark Williams in the front court. I don’t know if you can build bank on building around Mark Williams because we’re talking about right now if if we’re talking about trade deadline we’ve seen what we’ve got. you know, we we see Mark Williams string together a healthy season or we’re into next off seasonason and Mark Williams is extended or is on this team, then yeah, you can look to build around him. I I think it’s hard to say that Jordan wouldn’t look at Lowry Markin as a piece that would be he would be salivating uh scheming around and everything like that. I and I ask it because like we just got done talking about you don’t have draft capital so you have to dip into your asset pool of young talent. Yeah. If Malawatch is included and you just traded two first round picks for Mark Williams, you’re clearly going to be investing in that guy. If you’re sending your first round pick from this past draft out to bring another talent in, you’re not going to allow for him to just walk. Yeah, I imagine that’s a vote of confidence to what they see in their future with Mark Williams. And that naturally is why I asked for that in tandem with Larry Markin. I just don’t think that you can make that decision right now. I don’t think you can. I don’t think they should make any trades right now unless somebody wants to overpay for like Royce O’Neal. Even Grayson, I’m like, nah, I don’t know if I want to do that right now. And maybe I’m just drinking too much of the Kool-Aid on this team right now. And I know that we feel very good after the first preseason game and and just diving into this team all summer. Um, but I I’m not ready to move on from from anybody right now on this roster for Lowry. Uh that being said though, it is something to definitely keep tabs on throughout the season and how he plays and if his value goes because he had the worst season of his career last year. Let’s also like acknowledge that he had a like of his prime career. I know that early on he was he was struggling to kind of find his place in the league. He didn’t have the greatest season last year. Now Utah wasn’t great last year. And that’s what I was going to say. Context context matters. Context matters. Yeah. you put a winning player around winning pieces, even just one more than he had in Utah. Mhm. That that player turns into an all-star again. Yeah. And again, I think just I don’t want to give up on Come on, Malawatch. I don’t want to give up on Ryan Dunn. I don’t want to give up on Rashir. And and maybe that’s the wrong move. And it might not be the the right move to not give up on those players, but I think you owe it to this roster. You owe it to this team to see what they have first. Like Stephen in the chat says, there is there is no right now with the Suns. They’re building. can’t compromise it in the first season of a regular season tool. Lowry is also under contract. He is extended, so it’s not like he’s going to be hitting a uh a free agency anytime soon. So, he might be somebody that is available a little bit later and and maybe there is a better fit, especially on the defensive side of things. Uh that could bring there interesting stuff with Lowry Markin. I’ll just close with he had a bad season last year with a bad team. Um, but what he did do was go back to Finland for Euro Championships and played some of the best basketball that he’s played in the last few years. So that’s that’s a direct example of good player on bad team, bad ecosystem. It’s hard to be better than that. But then you go to another iteration of a team, even for an abbreviated season, and you immediately see, oh yeah, that guy is pretty good. Like, yeah, that that that’s sometimes it’s as simple as a player being in the context that supplements what they

According to Chris Mannix of SI, the Utah Jazz are “very open” to the idea of trading former All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen. Should the Phoenix Suns make a move and trade for him? Stephen and Erik dive into what it would cost to acquire him, why it might not be the right move for Phoenix and how his game would fit alongside Devin Booker.