Report: Warriors not yet willing to include Podz in Markkanen trade originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors appear persistent when it comes to a trade for Jazz star Lauri Markkanen, but Golden State reportedly refuses to part with a player coveted by Utah.
The Warriors are still considered Markkanen’s “most ardent” NBA suitors, though they remain reluctant to trade second-year guard Brandin Podziemski in a potential All-Star package, NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Sunday. in your latest Substack.
“Golden State has, to date, pursued Markkanen without including Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga in trade packages loaded with future compensation,” Stein wrote. “Obviously, no team, so far, has met [Jazz CEO of basketball operations] Danny Ainge’s asking price.”
The Warriors certainly think carefully about Podziemski. Coach Steve Kerr had difficulty keeping him off the court during the 21-year-old’s rookie season, and owner Joe Lacob recently described him as a “future All-Star.” The former first-round draft pick averaged 26.6 minutes per game during the 2023-24 NBA season — a rarity for a youngster on Kerr’s roster.
But despite all the commercial buzz that surrounds it, Podziemski remains unfazed.
“It’s a lot of fun for me, actually. I love it,” Podziemski said during Podcast “The Dinner Table” published on July 25th. “It’s cool to see different things every day – people’s comments, and whether I should be [traded] or shouldn’t be.
“For me, from a basketball standpoint, social media aside, I try to put that aside and just work on what I can control right now.”
The Warriors, meanwhile, could use a player of Markkanen’s caliber as they seek another NBA championship during the tail end of Steph Curry’s legendary career. But time for a trade is running out, as Markkanen becomes trade eligible on Tuesday, August 6th – and with the Jazz facilitating training sessions for the star forward in his home country of Finland, “more than a rival team” consulted by Stein agreed that “it has become increasingly difficult to see Utah turning around abruptly and trading him.”
It seems Dub Nation should get used to the idea of Podziemski remaining a Warrior, even though the weeks-long Markkanen trade saga will be definitively resolved in the coming days.
