The Utah Jazz are sitting at 5-11 and 12th in the western conference along with 23rd overall in the league. Markkanen however has been having a great year. 23.7 ppg on 48.4 field goal shooting.
Instead of trading him for young talent and picks, would it be smart for the Jazz to draft a top player in the draft and keep Markkanen all at the same time?
If they trade him, then they basically have to start all over but they could always just keep him and go for a top 5 pick regardless if the Jazz wanted to. The playoffs seem out of reach for Utah this year.
They absolutely can tank with him. They aren’t exactly lighting it up right now. They can move Clarkson, Olynyk, THT, and possibly Sexton/Collins (which I highly doubt will happen) to free up minutes for the young guys. Force Hardy to let them play through their mistakes and go into the offseason with a high pick, tons of cap space, and a crazy amount of picks to use in trades. They can bring in a star and other quality guys while also adding another young guy to develop.
How has Clarkson been defensively? He certainly has a reputation and his size limits his impact, but would is he passable on that end?