Jazz's Updated Salary Cap After Lauri Markkanen's $238M Contract Extension
Tyler Conway@@jtylerconway
Featured Columnist IVAugust 7, 2024
The Utah Jazz and forward Lauri Markkanen agreed to a five-year, $238 million contract extension Wednesday.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski detailed the contract, which includes a renegotiation of Markkanen's 2024-25 salary. The All-Star will now earn $42 million—up from $18 million—as the Jazz used their cap space to provide their franchise cornerstone with a pay bump next season.
Utah will pay Markkanen $198 million over the remaining four years of the contract. There is no player option included in the deal.
The Jazz will have to renounce the rights of guards Kira Lewis Jr. and Talen Horton-Tucker to make the extension possible under the salary cap. Utah should still have a small amount of space to use once the deal is finalized, but the team will lose access to its non-taxpayer midlevel exception because it has to operate under the cap to sign Markkanen.
The timing of the extension prevents the Jazz from trading Markkanen during the 2024-25 season. That is not a coincidence. While this deal has likely been on the table for several weeks, Markkanen strategically waited to control his own fate.
The Jazz have been exploring their roster options all summer, including trading Markkanen. The Golden State Warriors were the team most prominently involved in trade talks, but it does not appear the two sides ever got close.
Trading Markkanen made a ton of sense on paper. Utah struck out in its own attempt to trade for a co-star and now looks stuck in the proverbial no man's land. The Jazz are too good with Markkanen to tank but are essentially running things back with the same core that won 31 games last season.
Given the considerable hype surrounding Duke forward Connor Flagg, the presumed top pick of the 2025 NBA draft, moving Markkanen for a haul and taking the 2024-25 season was arguably the optimal rebuilding strategy.
Instead, the Jazz have cashed their chips in on Markkanen and will have to hope they strike gold elsewhere in their player development system. Otherwise, don't be surprised if Markkanen's name winds up in trade rumors next offseason as well.
