Lauri Markkanen already changed the Jazz’s plans once. Now he hopes he can fast-forward the rebuild

Lauri Markkanen does not want to be on a losing team.

He’s been very clear with reporters, fans and with the Utah Jazz front office. He wants to be playing playoff basketball.

“I want to win basketball games and get to the playoffs and hopefully at the end get all the way to the ultimate goal,” Markkanen said. “And they know that.”

Through two seasons with the Jazz, Markkanen’s desire to play playoff basketball — something he has yet to do in his seven years in the NBA — has not been enough to sway the Jazz from depleting the roster at the trade deadline in favor of losses and better lottery odds. But Markkanen has already changed the trajectory of the Utah Jazz’s rebuild, and he hopes that he can continue to speed up the process.

When the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and received Markkanen as part of the incoming package in that deal, they knew they were getting a good player, but they didn’t know he would quickly leap into being one of the 30 best players in the league.

The Jazz would have probably preferred a team that didn’t start out the 2022-23 season with a 10-3 record. They probably would have preferred an easier path to being one of the teams with top odds at landing Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 draft. They might have preferred a longer and and more deliberate blueprint after blowing up the previous roster, but Markkanen’s ascendance to becoming an All-Star and the NBA’s 2023 Most Improved Player meant that leaning into a complete tank job would be near impossible.

One of the biggest questions about Markkanen heading into the 2023-24 season was whether what he did in the previous season was sustainable. Was 2022-23 a fluke, or was Markkanen for real? This season, he proved that he is entering his prime and that he is ready to compete at the highest levels. That means that the Jazz still can’t quite turn on full tank mode, not while Markkanen is around.

So instead of quietly leaning into a full youth movement, the Jazz have to start thinking about experienced players that they can add to the roster over the next couple of years in order to capitalize on what they have in Markkanen.

“I think it’s really hard to bottom out with what we already have, which I would rather have than not have,” Jazz general manager Justin Zanik said. “There are a few different ways to build a team. ... In adding pieces, obviously you always want to get as many No. 1 guys as you can. In the absence of that, you want to get players that help the team function and hopefully on a longer timeline than just a one- or two-year basis.”

Of course, had Markkanen not popped as soon as the Jazz acquired him, or if there is any regression as they move forward, it would give the Jazz all the reason they need to continue to try to bottom out.

The way that Markkanen sees things, he knows that the Jazz front office is trying to eventually build a championship team and he doesn’t begrudge them their efforts or believe that he has any real control over the decisions that they make. That being said, he believes that he does have control over how they view him and his potential and the team’s potential so long as he continues to improve. In that, Markkanen sees it as his responsibility to force the Jazz front office to act sooner rather than later when it comes to creating a contending roster.

“At this point in my career, I know how the business works and they have to make those tough decisions,” Markkanen said. “But I look at this whole situation as a way for myself to get better, and one way to affect (the situation) is to get so much better and work on your game that it kind of speeds things up. ... That’s my part of the job — to fast-forward this thing.”

The fear, internally and externally, is that the Jazz won’t be able to land the type of players within the next couple of years that would both complement Markkanen and change the direction of the franchise, and in that case, they could be in a position where the youth gained on the team would not line up with Markkanen’s prime.

“I don’t want to waste any years, but you also have to do it within the timeline that makes sense,” Zanik said. “We’re not trying to say, ‘Hey, Lauri, we want to make you happy. You’ve never made the playoffs so we’re gonna just burn all our picks and get some marginal-level repeat player and maybe we’ll be a seven seed.’ The goal is to make the playoffs and then grow from there.”

Markkanen hears those words loud and clear. If the timeline needs to make sense and the Jazz need proof of longevity where the postseason is concerned, he plans to be on that timeline and to be so good that they can’t rationalize not making moves now that will push the team into contention.

The 26-year-old Finnish forward has made no secret about how much his family loves Utah and feels as if they’ve found a home here. He wants to remain with the Jazz and be a part of the next era of Jazz basketball. He just wants that era to begin now.

Markkanen is not an aggressive person by nature. He is not going to barge into Zanik’s or Danny Ainge’s or Ryan Smith’s office and demand that they start making moves so that he can play winning basketball. He’s always been a lead-by-example type of person and player and that’s how he plans to approach this offseason and the 2024-25 NBA season.

He wants to make it impossible for the Jazz to take a slow route to title contention. He wants to prove that not only were the last two seasons not a fluke, but that he is ready for bigger and brighter things. So, if Markkanen has his way, the rebuild will be on his timeline, not anyone else’s.