Warriors offer for Lauri Markkanen revealed

It likely wasn’t close.

Just as it did with Paul George months prior, the Golden State Warriors dream of trading for All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen has died. While the Warriors had plenty of conversations with the Utah Jazz about the sharp-shooting seven-footer, no trade materialized. That led to Markkanen informing the Jazz that he would like to stay with the organization, and now there are reports that an extension exceeding $200 million will be signed any day now.

As the rumors for both George and Markkanen heated up, many Warriors fans were left wondering what the team was willing to part with in their pursuit of a star. And now we have some further information there.

On Tuesday, The Athletic published a report co-authored by Warriors beat writer Anthony Slater, Jazz beat writer Tony Jones, and national reporter Shams Charania, detailing the entire Markkanen situation. Per the report, “The Warriors made the most aggressive offer, centered around Moses Moody, multiple first-round picks, pick swaps and second-rounders, team sources from both sides said.” As had been previously reported, Golden State did not want to trade Brandin Podziemski, with The Athletic article stating that the team was “protective of Podziemski in the Markkanen conversation and a few other leaguewide trade proposals this summer.” Not surprisingly, the report added that the Jazz wanted Podziemski in any potential deal.

It’s certainly fair to debate if the Warriors are clinging too tightly to Podziemski. But then again, if they think that he’s a special player — a very justified thought — why give up so many years of team control (three of which are very affordable) just to trade for another special player who is owed significantly more money?

And of course, just because the Jazz wanted Podziemski doesn’t mean that they would have made that trade had Golden State subbed in Podz. They might have needed that to start the talks, but needed a lot more to end them.

Either way, we have some idea as to what the Dubs are willing to part with as they chase a star to share the court with Steph Curry and Draymond Green. It just doesn’t seem likely to be enough wherever they look.