Jazz's Lauri Markkanen Gets Real on His Extension Process This Summer

The Utah Jazz All-Star forward hit on his contract negotiation experience across this summer.

Mar 25, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz offseason didn't consist of a ton of major action, yet the one main storyline to encapsulate the recent summer months was their situation revolving around All-Star Lauri Markkanen and his pending contract extension, as talks officially opened up for a new deal after spending two years in Salt Lake City.

This offseason, we saw a bit of back and forth for what the future would hold for Markkanen. Many anticipated a long-awaited deal to get done in due time, while some other chatter persisted, throwing around the idea of a blockbuster trade being in-store instead. However, in the end, we saw the Jazz star put the discussion to rest when he inked his five-year $238 million re-negotiation and extension.

Markkanen got a chance to talk to the press during his Monday media availability, describing a bit of his thought process during this summer's negotiations. Overall, while he said it's a situation that could be viewed as stressful, he took things a bit easier by leaning on his agent and spending time with loved ones:

"It could be stressful, but it wasn't really for me. I was able to go home and hang out with my family, and kind of forget about it-- because we couldn't do anything before August anyway. I expect my agent to tell me if something happens, so I try to stay off of it, just work on my game and be with loved ones. It wasn't really that stressful. I'm glad we got it done relatively quickly."

- Lauri Markkanen on offseason extension

The Jazz and Markkanen had to wait patiently across the offseason to get something done, as the extension window officially opened at the end of the summer on August 6th-- leaving both sides interested in getting something done, but it added a bit more anticipation into the mix as well.

After a long wait, the agreement was hashed out on August 7th, which keeps Markkanen locked into Utah contractually until the 2029 summer. The signing also keeps the All-Star forward unable to be put into a trade for the next months, effectively removing him from any deadline discussions that could've taken place in February.

Markkanen expressed a bit of relief when talking about his chance to evade trade discussions later this season, saying it gives him an opportunity to keep his focus strictly on the floor to try and get him and his teammates better:

"For me, it's just being able to focus on basketball. Players talk about it, everybody talked about it when the deadline happened last year, and that's the thing in the league. It comes around every year, and just having one year that you know that your name is not going to be in it-- I get to focus on playing, getting better, and pushing my teammates. That's a good feeling for sure."

- Lauri Markkanen, cont.

Markkanen is coming off his second strong season with the Jazz, where he averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 55 total games, and now heading into his third Utah campaign, the 2017 lottery pick has a new contract, some new teammates, and a set stage to have yet another productive year in Salt Lake City.

Markkanen will take the floor again for the first time since March later this week, as the Jazz's preseason opener looms right around the corner vs. the New Zealand Breakers on Friday, October 5th in the Delta Center.

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