Mock Trade Sends Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton to San Antonio Spurs
NBA Trade Season is upon us, as February 8th gets closer and closer. The San Antonio Spurs are very much still in rebuild mode, but they have their franchise cornerstone in Victor Wembanyama.
The modern NBA rebuild–designed by Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti–hinges on accumulating as many draft picks as possible. While the NBA Draft is a low-cost way to find players ready to develop, the vast majority of rookies are not surefire prospects, and there is an immense amount of risk involved.
The Spurs seem to be focused on building a competitive roster around Wembanyama, Jeremy Sochan, and Devin Vassell. Considering that the Spurs are riding an 18-game losing streak, pretty much nobody on the roster is considered untouchable aside from those three.
Victor Wembanyama.
© Troy Taormina, USA TODAY
This means that fans will have to reckon with the fact that their favorite role players might not be around for much longer.
The Utah Jazz is in a completely different situation. Lauri Markkanen is no longer untouchable, and the 26-year-old Finnish forward is garnering a lot of attention. Markkanen was an All-Star last season and is averaging 23.7 points on 39 percent shooting from deep this year. He is on a team-friendly contract through next season, although the Spurs would have enough money to extend him when that contract is up.
A starting lineup of Tre Jones, Vassell, Sochan, Markkanen, and Wembanyama would be an upgrade from the current roster, but it would be a very expensive trade to make.
Since the Spurs do have a sense of identity around Wembanyama and the Jazz are starting their post-Gobert/Mitchell rebuild from scratch, they would be interested in adding picks, and a lot of them.
In this proposed mock trade, the Spurs would receive Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Doug McDermott, Keldon Johnson, Dominick Barlow, Sidy Cissoko, and first-round picks in 2026, 2028, and 2024 via the Toronto Raptors.
The Spurs would have to give up two promising young players, an established role player, and a knockdown shooter for salary-matching purposes. In return, they get a new second-best player to pair with Wembanyama and Sexton, who is a tried-and-true starting caliber point guard, which fans have been begging for.
In order to move Danny Ainge, the Spurs will have to offer plenty of young talent and picks. Markkanen is the hottest name on the trade block, and the Spurs will have to outbid plenty of other teams. Luckily, they have an immense amount of draft capital, and Johnson is under contract through 2027, so he would be a part of Utah’s rebuild.
A blockbuster move like this would propel the Spurs forward, but it would limit how much control they have over incoming talent. A move like this would keep their 2024 first-round pick in-house, but after that any remaining picks they have will be much later in the first round, limiting the prospects they could bring in.
However, pairing Wembanyama with a legitimate point guard and a secondary offensive weapon would do wonders for his growth, and if he reaches his full potential as the best player in the league, building around him needs to be priority number one for the Spurs.
