Report: Lauri Markkanen Ineligible for Trade With Contact Extension Talks Shaping Up

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been thrown into Lauri Markkanen trade rumors throughout the offseason but the Utah Jazz will soon be ineligible to trade the forward according to recent reports.

Feb 6, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the second quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA offseason has been on a downhill slide since the end of NBA Summer League. It feels as though all the big moves are behind us as the dog days of summer kicks in and the wait for the NBA season grows long.

However, there is still one drop of news that is still not fully accounted for. The Utah Jazz have found themselves in a great game of chicken regarding All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen. Danny Ainge has at times teased the idea of dealing the talented forward while remaining firm that the team could just extend him without thinking twice.

Without that desperation from Utah, it allowed them to drive a hard bargain on the trade market and likely priced teams out along the way. It is more important now than ever before that teams are cautious with the way they are building teams and looking multiple years into the future under the new CBA.

Nothing matters more than cost-controlled talent so shipping multiple picks to Utah for the right to ink Markkanen to a jaw-dropping contract doesn't seem palatable for most contending teams. According to Yahoo! Sports Insider Jake Fisher, Markkanen will soon be ineligible for a trade.

"But if Markkanen waits to sign his new deal until Wednesday or later, Markkanen won’t be eligible to be traded during this upcoming 2024-25 season. He wouldn’t be eligible to be traded for six months after his new agreement, in accordance with the collective bargaining, which would fall one day after the Feb. 6 trade deadline," Fisher explains "All indications, though, are that Markkanen intends to delay his signature for that exact purpose, league sources told Yahoo Sports."

While many have rushed to place the OKC Thunder in the Markkanen sweepstakes, that was never a realistic scenario. However, this still impacts the Thunder.

With the Jazz being forced to keep Markkanen, it increases the chances - even by a little bit - that their top-ten protected first-round pick falls to No. 11 or later and into the hands of Oklahoma City. While many expect Utah to tank for Cooper Flagg, and as the Thunder have seen even having an All-Star caliber player on the roster things can still trend that way, what if Utah it too good out of the gate to recover?

Sure, the most likely outcome is the Jazz are one of the worst teams in basketball, by design of shutting down players and landing comfortably in the top 10. However, if they would've traded Markkenen this would've been a no-brainer outcome. Now, they are forced to pull the right levers at the right times to make it so.

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