The NBA regular season has entered the final stage, and the five teams in the relatively competitive West, the Spurs, Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Jazz, and Rockets have been confirmed to miss the playoffs. These five teams will prepare ahead of time for next season. The Rockets had a 13-2 record in March, topping the league and were the only team to play 40 of the teams that missed the playoffs in the East and West. Young players such as Shin Jing, Green, Smith, Eason, and Amen Thompson have all made great progress, and this Rockets team has huge room for improvement. And Houston Rockets management is also likely to upgrade the roster through a trade this summer.
According to the latest report from Houston Chronicle reporter Jonathan Fagan, the Rockets and the Jazz are willing to reach a deal around forward Lauri Markkanen. It is understood that Jazz general manager, Angie also tried to use Shin Kyung or Jabari Smith as a trade chip in the deal involving Markkanen, but was rejected by the Rockets management. After the trade for Markkanen, the Rockets are likely to offer the Finnish power forward a five-year, $200 million max contract.
The 26-year-old Markkanen averaged 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game this season, and his injury-plagued performance was not very consistent, but last season, Markkanen averaged 26 points and 9 rebounds per game, which is a very good statistic! That could help the Rockets create more offensive space for Jalen Green to use his athletic talents. And the Rockets will also have an extra outside high battery on the offensive end. If the deal goes through, next season, two interior players from Europe, Shin Kyung and Markkanen, will form the Rockets' interior offensive pairing.
The Utah Jazz, who are in the process of rebuilding, once again raised the rebuilding chips they wanted through this deal, Eason and Whitmore are both high-quality potential rookies cultivated by the Rockets, in addition to this, the Rockets also sent the next four first-round picks as trade chips. Markkanen's departure also freed up huge salary space for the Jazz. The Jazz are likely to use salary space and draft picks in the future trade market to recruit top superstars in the free agent market and accelerate the Jazz's rebuild.