A blockbuster new three-team trade proposal sends Markkanen to OKC and the Hawks build their defense

Welcome to the start of NBA free agency.

At 6:00 p.m. EST today, the free agency trading window will open and teams will begin negotiating with players on the free market. It was also around this time that trade negotiations began to gain momentum and deals were reached. Rumors have been circulating for a few weeks about who is going where and many of these questions will be answered in the coming days.

One of the biggest questions in the NBA is the future of Lauri Markkanen. The seven-foot forward averaged just 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists on 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range in 55 games for the Utah Jazz. His size, shooting and rebounding make him a perfect fit for virtually any team, but his contract is the real prize. His current salary of $18 million means he’s an easy fit on teams’ draft lists.

That’s why Jazz general manager Danny Ainge isn’t interested in trading Markkanen for anything other than a huge package. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski alluded to this in a recent appearance, but suggested a trade could happen if the Jazz get a package they can’t refuse.

“In a perfect world, Utah wants to keep Markkannen and give him an extension this summer. However, teams are aggressive. Utah has to listen. And there’s no shortage of teams interested in seeing what it might take to get Markkanen out of Utah.

To be clear, I don’t think Markkanen will be an Atlanta Hawk. There are two reasons. First, Atlanta doesn’t have the equity to do this. Mikal Bridges, who is a lesser version of the same player archetype, opted for four unprotected first round picks (2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031), one protected first round pick in 2025, the unprotected pick swap from the Knicks in 2028 and a 2025 pick. Brooklyn second round selection. For Atlanta, they would have to give up all of their first round picks and DeAndre Hunter/Zaccharie Risacher to have a chance at the draft lottery. This is not a deal that makes sense with the current roster. Second, I don’t think this is a deal the Hawks need to make. This year should be focused on evaluating how Zaccharie Risacher and Jalen Johnson operate as starting tight ends. Getting Markkanen would be an expensive and illogical decision.

That being said, there are a few teams that Markkanen makes sense for and they have the assets/cap space to acquire him. One of these teams is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

They have a surplus of first-round picks, reached the Western Conference semifinals and boast franchise cornerstones Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. In an extremely competitive Western Conference, the Thunder can use their strengths to establish themselves as the best roster in their conference by trading for Markkanen. They struggled to rebound in their playoff loss to the Dallas Mavericks and Markkanen’s skillset would go a long way to solving that problem.

Having Markkanen on their roster also makes a player like Lu Dort somewhat redundant. Dort is a great defender who showed a lot of growth as a shooter in Oklahoma City, but he would be a backup if Markannen were traded. The Thunder acquired Alex Caruso earlier in the offseason, which allows them to play with a Caruso-SGA-Williams-Markkanen-Holmgren lineup. Given that they are depleting their first-round draft stockpile, would they be interested in getting some of that value back from Atlanta?

Atlanta’s involvement would only make sense for someone like Dort, as they could add him to the bigger teams they place around Trae Young. Dort can compete with guards like Luka Doncic and forwards like Brandon Ingram, depending on the opponent.

An underrated part of the Jazz and Thunder discussions is that the Jazz want to make the play-ins or playoffs next season. Ainge discussed his offseason outlook in a Salt Lake Tribune article by Andy Larsen in mid-April, but there’s no indication his outlook has changed between then and now.

“We felt like we were close (on a trade) once in this process that would have immediately changed the dynamic of our team. But that didn’t happen. We also don’t want to go from 23rd to 18th by giving up a bunch of stuff. That’s not our goal.”

“We’re not really interested in dinosaurs. We’re interested in good 6-7 year old (players). I’m not saying we wouldn’t go after a veteran player for a short-term solution to make us save time, but it’s not as likely.

There could be a three-team deal where the Thunder get a piece that solidifies them in the league’s top three, the Jazz get huge value for Markkanen and inexpensive short-term solutions while the Hawks add more pieces to the size-oriented defensive lineup they’re building around Trae Young. This is what this exchange would look like.

It should be noted that this is simply a fun, speculative exercise to see what types of moves can be made, not what I think a team should absolutely do. That’s all.

Falcons get: Lu Dort, Walker Kessler

Thunder get: DeAndre Hunter, Lauri Markkanen, 2028 first-round pick (via Atlanta – top 5 protected)

Jazz get: Clint Capela, Cason Wallace, 2026 second-round pick (via Memphis), 2025 first-round pick (via Miami, top-15 protected), 2025 first-round pick (via Philly, top-7 protected), 2026 first-round pick (via Los Angeles Clippers, unprotected), 2028 first-round pick (via Dallas, unprotected), 2028 first-round pick swap with OKC

For Utah, getting five first-round picks and a young guard who could become a part of the team’s long-term future is a great return for Markkanen. It beats out the Mikal Bridges package and gives Utah the assets to add star talent or move up in the draft for players they covet. They also take on Clint Capela’s salary in this deal, but it’s an expiring contract with minimal implications for their future. Capela would fall into the category of a short-term solution. He’s a more developed version of Walker Kessler, their starting center who is available for trade according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

“Rival teams believe Utah is ready to engage in trade talks that would part ways with Jazz second-year center Walker Kessler.”

Oklahoma City gets the final piece to complete a lineup that is virtually unfettered by limitations. Surrounded by a bona fide SGA superstar, every player on this roster is a three-point threat, plays average to elite defense, and fills complementary roles on the court depending on how bad SGA’s scoring is. Since they have decent salary cap space this offseason (around $35 million), they can take on Hunter’s contract alongside Markkanen and slot Hunter into a high-level sixth-man role. His shooting and perimeter defense would be incredibly useful in bench lineups, and his contract can be used for salary-matching purposes in other trades. Their window is firmly open: having a player who can easily transition to starting or role minutes is a luxury that proves itself in the playoffs.

Atlanta’s motivation for this decision is threefold. In the short term, they benefit from getting rid of salaries that don’t fit their team. Since Atlanta is not ready to contend, it is much more difficult to accept Hunter’s contract as a sixth man. He probably won’t do it again with Risacher or Johnson. In the long term, they give themselves insurance for Dyson Daniels. Daniels, who they acquired, is a wing with playmaking skills and legitimate defensive upside. However, his offensive skills are still a work in progress. In the event that Daniels is more of a role player than a future starter, Dort can step into that starting position and take on the tougher defensive assignments. Young’s lack of defensive tools puts him at a disadvantage against guards or bigger forwards who look to him. Dort takes some of that pressure off Young and completes the Hawks’ idealized lineup: their star point guard surrounded by long defenders who can shoot. A lineup of Young-Dort-Johnson-Risacher-Okongwu has serious defensive upside and is firmly in contention for a playoff spot next season.

The Hawks could also buy very low for Kessler. For the price of a second-round pick, they’ll find out if he’s a key piece of the rotation or capable of being the center of the future. Okongwu can be played as a striker and shows promise as a shooter. Last year, he shot 68.0% from three-point range with decent volume, which is an above-average mark. He has also shown signs of a mid-range shot in past seasons. Kessler has been an excellent rim protector thus far and should continue to be so in the Hawks lineup. His offensive game is limited, but he can serve as a rim runner for Young in the way Capela often has. Having both Kessler and Okongwu should provide, at a minimum, a repeat of what Atlanta had last year at the center position for significantly less cost.

While I don’t know if the Hawks would want to part with another prime or if the Thunder would really be interested in moving Dort for something less than a star player in return, the possibility of getting another prime back to preserve their surplus would undoubtedly be interesting. Ultimately, I don’t think the Markkanen deal gets done with Atlanta involved, but I would be surprised if Markkanen isn’t acquired by the Thunder this offseason. Atlanta should try to get involved in this deal to improve their future prospects.