LAS VEGAS — As NBA franchises spend a week at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion for the Las Vegas Summer League, team executives are spending their time watching their respective teams, scouting players and monitoring the state of the league as rosters are finalized. Key free agents have been signed and the rest of the available roster is ironing out next steps, but the bigger questions of the offseason remain unresolved.
All eyes have been on the Utah Jazz and Lauri Markkanen for the past few weeks. The Jazz have been working in parallel with Markkanen's future, meaning they remain interested in keeping him as a franchise centerpiece while listening to offers from teams that are serious about a trade. Markkanen is eligible for a contract extension on August 6. With the Jazz in a rebuild, rival teams have their doubts about Markkanen's future. Utah officials are hoping to hang on to the 2023 NBA All-Star and Best Newcomer, unless the team makes a truly surprising offer.
The Golden State Warriors have been the most aggressive team for Markkanen in recent weeks, according to league sources. Athletic They discussed proposals involving Moses Moody, multiple first-round picks, multiple pick swaps and multiple second-round picks, but the Jazz are seeking most of the Warriors' young talent and capital, including Moody, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, as well as the picks, which has so far not materialized for Golden State, league sources said.
Markkanen, in the prime of his career and one of the most coveted free agents in 2025, still has some leverage in this matter. Any team willing to spend significant capital on the 7-foot big man will want some assurance that they're interested in a long-term deal.
For Markkanen, renegotiating and signing an extension would allow him to receive more money than he currently does. To reach the maximum salary in 2025-26, the Jazz would need to increase his 2024-25 salary to at least $33,138,600, which would require at least $15.09 million in cap space this season. There's one caveat: Markkanen would be trade eligible next season if he signs the extension on the first day of eligibility on Aug. 6, but would not be eligible if he signs after that.
Another former All-Star in the final year of his contract has received similar trade inquiries: Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram. Both remain open to a future together, but with Ingram seeking a lucrative extension, the Pelicans must at the very least continue discussions with him and his agent about whether he stays in New Orleans or goes elsewhere.
“Brandon wants to stay here,” Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin said in late June. “He believes in what we're building. It means something to him. It means something to his agent.”
“At the same time, there are economic realities we all have to deal with.”
Several teams around the league believe Ingram's trade market is currently limited, with two interested teams, Sacramento and San Antonio, acquiring forwards DeMar DeRozan and Harrison Barnes, respectively, in the offseason and most teams finalizing their rosters heading into the summer.
Griffin retooled the Pelicans this offseason, acquiring All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks to complete New Orleans' most balanced roster in recent years. The Pelicans can assess the need for roster changes during the regular season and allow player performance and team performance to determine what changes are needed.
With the Jazz and Pelicans facing big, multi-billion-dollar decisions ahead, teams around the league are focused on shoring up their internal dynamics and roster depth. As one team executive said in Las Vegas, “This could be a relatively quiet summer.”
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The Clippers and Russell Westbrook are set to part ways this offseason, and the team is still in trade talks with the former NBA MVP, according to team and league sources. The Denver Nuggets are the favorite to sign Westbrook if he becomes a free agent.
According to a league source, the Grizzlies are negotiating a deal to move 2021 top draft pick Zi'air Williams.
The Bucks are in the market for a shooting guard and will be training in Las Vegas this week, with 11-year NBA player Will Barton among the players who will be training with the Bucks this week, according to a league source.
Milwaukee is also one of several teams in the running to acquire the top remaining free agent, Gary Trent Jr., according to league sources. The 25-year-old Trent, who averaged 13.7 points and shot 39.3 percent from three-point range last season with Toronto, is patiently waiting to find the best opportunity for his seventh NBA season. The Raptors did not extend a return offer to Trent in the offseason, allowing him to search for a new team. As the league's strict salary cap rules become more impactful on the second apron, some teams with salary cap space are choosing to utilize that space in ways other than free agency, which is putting a talented player like Trent on the market.
Anthony Edwards, the Timberwolves' All-NBA guard who just signed a contract extension with Adidas worth more than eight figures per year, will apparently be the star of Netflix's new NBA show, set to premiere in the fall, according to industry sources. Edwards is expected to feature in Netflix's first NBA documentary series, which also stars LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler and Domantas Sabonis. James' SpringHill Company led production on the series along with Barack Obama's Higher Ground Productions and Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions. The show is modeled after Netflix's NFL “Quarterback” series.
(Photo of Lauri Markkanen and Brandon Ingram by Alex Goodlett and Barry Gossage/Getty Images)
