Trade rumor rankings: Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine and more
It’s time for another edition of our trade rumor rankings series in which we rank the five players who appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, as judged by appearances on our Trade Rumors page.
Today, we discuss a Utah Jazz star, a former Utah Jazz star, two Chicago Bulls players – and their potential destination, the Los Angeles Lakers – and a Spanish National Team legend.
With so many interesting names to get to, let’s jump right into the action.
Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland)
There seems to be some concern from Cleveland fans about the Cavaliers’ future and it’s hard to blame them considering the recent long-term injuries to Evan Mobley and Darius Garland. Even so, the Cavs sit at 16-12, sixth in the East, and still have the services of All-Star 2-guard Donovan Mitchell.
However, there is some question as to what Mitchell’s future on the team might hold, as there has been talk of him waiting out his contract (he’s got a player option for 2025-26 worth $37.1 million which he almost certainly will opt out of) and eventually heading back to his hometown to join the New York Knicks.
That talk popped up again recently, with our own Michael Scotto mentioning the Knicks as being heavily interested in a potential Mitchell trade even before the star guard hits free agency in 2025:
Rival NBA executives are monitoring Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell’s happiness in Cleveland. Mitchell is signed through next season before a $37 million player option for the 2025-26 season, which many around the league expect him to eventually decline. Cleveland wants to sign Mitchell to a long-term contract down the line and is in no rush to move him after making offseason moves to improve the team around him and the team’s core. … Should Mitchell become available on the trade market at any point, a bevy of teams, including the Knicks, will be among those heavily interested.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported similarly, stating that the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets could get into a trade bidding war if Mitchell is put on the block by Cleveland:
Brian Windhorst, who made his bones as a Cavaliers beat writer and who has a great record on Nets moves, said on his Hoop Collective Monday that if Cleveland makes Donovan Mitchell available, it could lead to a bidding war for the native New Yorker between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks. But ESPN’s basketball writer does not believe the Cavs front office has made that decision and may very well not yet be feeling pressure despite their team’s record and devastating injury news. “I would say the Knicks and the Nets are riding on the line,” added Windhorst in a lively discussion that included ESPN colleagues Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon. “Those two teams where I think Donovan would have a chance of resigning. if they got into a bidding war, I think that could be interesting.”
Of course, that would require Cleveland putting Mitchell up for trade and barring the former Louisville standout flat-out telling the Cavaliers he won’t re-sign with the team when the time comes, it doesn’t appear likely that will happen ahead of this season’s trade deadline.
Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer reported this week that the Cavaliers remain set on keeping their All-Star shooting guard for the foreseeable future:
The Cavaliers, though, are not prepared to consider that exit strategy [of trading away Donovan Mitchell]. Cleveland officials have maintained a commitment to this core of four All-Star talents, according to league sources, even with all the incessant chatter among rival executives that Mitchell will inevitably bolt when he can reach the unrestricted market in 2025.
So we’ll see how this story plays out but for the time being, it appears unlikely Cleveland will blow its current roster up, not with the team still firmly in the playoff picture even despite major absences.
For the latest trade rumors and salary info on Donovan Mitchell, click here.
Ricky Rubio (Cleveland)
Cavaliers point guard Ricky Rubio has been on leave from the team all year as he deals with his mental health. He even missed playing in the World Cup with Spain this summer as part of his hiatus, which only goes to show how serious of a matter this is.
With the Cavaliers dealing with so many injuries, Rubio’s name came up on reports this week as Cleveland tries to figure out what to do with the legendary Spanish ball-handler.
The first report came from Fischer, who wrote this week:
With seven weeks remaining before the league’s Feb. 8 buzzer, the only true trade development about the Cavaliers is the team’s attempts to find a partner that will take Ricky Rubio’s contract, league sources told Yahoo Sports, so that next front office can work on a buyout of the veteran point guard’s two seasons and $12.5 million remaining on the three-year contract Rubio signed to return to the Cavaliers last July. Rubio announced this August he was pausing his career to focus on his mental health. But his salary slot is just too valuable for a team with Cleveland’s ceiling and aspirations to punt for no contribution, regardless of what Rubio’s veteran know-how brought to Cleveland’s locker room in recent seasons.
That was followed up by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, who reported that Rubio and the Cavaliers have started discussing a potential parting of ways:
Desperate for both help in the backcourt, and a roster spot, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ricky Rubio have begun discussing a potential parting of ways, according to league sources. Rubio, 33, has been on permitted leave in Spain from the team since the summer as he manages his mental health and there are serious doubts about whether he ever plays again, league sources said. At minimum, Rubio is not expected back this season.
According to Cleveland beat writer Chris Fedor, the Cavaliers’ preference is to trade Rubio, which might not be impossible if he’s used as salary filler on a larger deal. Rubio is signed through 2024-25 when he’ll earn $6.4 million, a team-friendly number.
The problem is that Cleveland needs on-court guard help badly with Garland out, and with Rubio unfortunately dealing with a serious situation, the Cavaliers won’t be getting it from him this season. Per Charania, Rubio isn’t even in basketball shape at the moment.
For the latest trade rumors and salary info on Ricky Rubio, click here.
DeMar DeRozan (Chicago)
Due to All-Star DeMar DeRozan’s status as an impending unrestricted free agent and the fact he doesn’t seem close to a contract extension with the Bulls, there has been a lot of talk about his future with Chicago of late. And with good reason, considering the former USC Trojan is averaging 22.4 points and 5.4 assists this season on 45.1 percent shooting, still performing as a very effective perimeter one-on-one scorer.
This week, it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that DeRozan’s talks with the Bulls over an extension have stalled:
The Bulls and DeRozan’s camp are still open to a new contract, according to a source, but talks are stalled. And while executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas will take calls on a DeRozan trade, he’s not making them.
DeRozan, for one, has outright said he loves it in Chicago and doesn’t want to leave (via the Chicago Tribune):
Despite a report from Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes that DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls are “far apart” on agreeing upon a contract extension, the forward says he wants to remain in Chicago. “Chicago is Chicago to me,” DeRozan told the Tribune. “I love it here. Obviously it’s a place I want to be in my career. None of that has changed. I don’t have no other type of doubts or feelings or suggestions to be elsewhere. That don’t cross my mind.” DeRozan knows the business. He’s been blindsided by a trade before. But DeRozan said he feels conversations between his camp and the Bulls front office have been “constructive” as the Feb. 8 trade deadline slowly nears. “When things ain’t going right, it’s always easy to throw those narratives out there,” DeRozan said. “It’s just about how you get through it and how you accept the challenge that’s ahead.”
Most recently, it was reported by The Athletic that the Lakers prefer trading for DeRozan over his star teammate, who we’ll discuss more in a bit, because his contract is expiring, which would give Los Angeles the year-to-year flexibility it so covets in its LeBron James era. DeRozan would give the Lakers their best pure one-on-one scorer from the perimeter and provide the team’s offense – ranked 24th in points scored per 100 possessions – a much-needed boost.
Regardless, with the Bulls going 7-3 in their last 10 games, all without the player who will finish first in this ranking, that might change the team’s motivations as far as who they want to trade this season. More food for thought: In that stretch, DeRozan is averaging 24.4 points and 6.9 assists.
So it might not be that easy – or cheap – for rival teams to pry him away by February’s trade deadline.
For the latest trade rumors and salary info on DeMar DeRozan, click here.
Lauri Markkanen (Utah)
In the NBA, things change very quickly.
For example, three seasons ago, floor-spacing big man Lauri Markkanen was given up on by the Bulls after four fairly mediocre seasons with the team, at least in contrast with his former high draft position (he went seventh overall in 2017). One year later, he was traded again, that time as part of the Mitchell blockbuster deal between Utah and Cleveland.
Now, he’d cost teams an arm and a leg to acquire – and that’s if the Jazz even decide they want to trade him, which they very well might not.
According to The Ringer, Utah would want a similar trade haul to what it got for Mitchell or for all-pro center Rudy Gobert if it does deal Markkanen:
Kevin O’Connor on Jazz potentially trading Lauri Markkanen: I’ve heard that if they were to make a deal, they’d want something comparable to what they got from Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.
This came on the heels of Fischer reporting that Markkanen might not be as untouchable as he was last season:
And yet the Jazz are mired in an 8-16 start, prompting several teams to phone Utah’s front office in order to gauge its willingness to move Markkanen, sources said. The Jazz are by no means expected to trade the 7-foot sharpshooter at this juncture. He’s been a true favorite of Jazz officials, sources said. But Utah has indeed left opposing executives with the sense that Markkanen is no longer untouchable in trade conversations, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Fisher went on to mention the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks as potential landing spots for the former Arizona standout.
Markkanen has developed into one of the best scoring power forwards in the league, averaging 25.1 points and 8.6 rebounds on 49.6 percent shooting (38.9 percent from three) over the past two seasons, possessing an elite face-up game and great quickness and driving ability for a frontcourt player.
His contract is quite team-friendly, too, as he’s only signed for one more season after this one when he’ll earn $18.0 million, a figure far below that of the typical All-Star. That’s all to say if Utah does decide to put him on the trade block, the offers it will get back in return will be rich and plentiful.
For what it’s worth, Markkanen himself said this week to The Athletic that he believes in what the Jazz are building and doesn’t want to see himself pried away by another team so soon:
Lauri Markkanen doesn’t want to go anywhere. Let’s get that part clear at the start. After talking with the 26-year-old All-Star forward on Saturday morning, not long before his Utah Jazz (9-17) got blasted by the Kings in a 125-104 loss in Sacramento, the message could not be mistaken. “I just want to emphasize,” he said at the end of our 10-minute chat, “that I really believe in what we’re building here with the Jazz.” Translation: He’s hoping no team comes Utah’s way with the kind of Godfather offer that leads to another relocation.
We’ll see if his wishes line up with what the 10-18 Jazz have in their plans for the immediate future.
For the latest trade rumors and salary info on Lauri Markkanen, click here.
Zach LaVine (Chicago)
Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine’s trade value can be summed up by two things.
For starters:
The Bulls record this season…
With Zach LaVine:
5-13 (.278)Without Zach LaVine:
7-4 (.636)— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 21, 2023
Moreover:
