NBA Trade Rumors: 14 Bold deadline predictions that would shake up the league

The Utah Jazz trade Lauri Markkanen

The Utah Jazz have a nice team. They have a couple of talented young pieces, a good handful of valued veterans, and one All-Star caliber forward who could be on the move. Even though it's been reported that the Jazz have turned back all teams in their attempts to pry Lauri Markkanen away from them via trade, I predict that there could be an offer out there that not even Danny Ainge and the Jazz will be willing to decline. If that does come to fruition at the deadline, Markkanen will be traded.

Markkanen is a really good player that deserves to be on a winning team. Unfortunately, I don't believe the Jazz is the spot where that's going to happen. Utah has a solid foundation but still needs 2-3 years to continue to expand its foundation before the winning will begin. Unless there's another win-now move on the horizon for Utah, the Jazz are going to have an uphill battle over the next few years.

Objectively, it's probably in the best interest of the Jazz to trade Markkanen. And it may be in the best interest of Markkanen to find his way to a team in a better position to win now.