There’s a reason the Utah Jazz are the underdogs this year. They have a 7’1″ powerhouse making circus shots and scoring like Luka Doncic. Lauri Markkanen was on the trade radar before this season but remained in Utah to do phenomenal things. He just dropped 47 points on the Chicago Bulls in a dramatic 150-147 double overtime win on Sunday night. Teams who passed on him should be stewing with regret. But are they? Draymond Green sort of hinted at it.

One of the teams that were eyeing Markkanen last season were the Golden State Warriors. They however, couldn’t afford to give up Brandin Podziemski and/or Jonathan Kuminga for him. The way Markkanen was passed up made it seem his potential was too big a gamble. Green implies what a mistake it is to underestimate that kind of talent.

Green was back on his podcast right after Sunday’s roundup of games. Fans brought up the Finnish phenom’s 47-point outing not to ask about the trade that never happened, but about which player like Lauri doesn’t get his due respect. It was Aaron Gordon for Dray.

Yet, Green also said about Markkanen, “I would say, like, Lauri Markkanen is a great player and does not get talked about much.” Yet he was firmly on the Aaron Gordon bandwagon. “I think Lauri Markkanen gets spoke about, and much more respect, far more respect than Aaron Gordon does. And I think I disagree. I think Aaron Gordon should get—not, not that Lauri Markkanen shouldn’t get respect—that Aaron Gordon should get far more respect than he does.”

To summarize, Green is comparing Markkanen and Gordon, two very different players, and wants Gordon to be at par with the 28-year-old center. When Green was saying that, the Denver Nuggets were taking a beating from the Chicago Bulls fresh off the loss to Jazz. Gordon had 24 points and 10 rebounds but the lack of assists has social media criticizing him. So Green is right about the disrespect he gets.

He was answering the question as it was asked and not putting down Lauri. But Gordon was never on the Warriors’ radar. So it does beg the question if Dray wanted the Warriors’ front office to get Lauri Markkanen.

Draymond Green kept Lauri Markkanen out of Golden State

Until a few months ago, the Warriors were in need of a center. They had Draymond Green on the forward position and that time, Jonathan Kuminga was having trouble fitting in the Golden State system. Lauri Markkanen emerged as a candidate to solve the Warriors’ problems.

According to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, Draymond Green shut down the trade for Markkanen. Over a year and a half ago, he told GM Mike Dunleavy and team owner, Joe Lacob to cease the pursuit of the young center because of what they were asking in return – their young core in Kuminga and Podziemski and several draft picks that would set the franchise back.

Green himself confirmed it to Slater. “I’m a big fan of [Markkanen’s] game,” Green told Slater. “But I think if you want to do something so huge you better be certain that this is the move. You usually don’t win those things against Danny Ainge. I look at history.”

So Warriors didn’t take Ainge’s aggressive proposal and Markkanen signed a massive contract extension with Jazz. Initially the Warriors looked vindicated because of Markkanen’s inconsistency in 2024-25. This season, he’s proving he’s worthy every penny in that five-year, $238 million deal. He’s averaging a career-high 30.6 points and 6.2 rebounds, shooting 47.9% from the floor and 38.9% from 3-point range. He now joins Stephen Curry as the only other player to have a 45+point game this season (Curry had 46 and 49 against the Spurs last week).

The Dubs meanwhile got Al Horford this offseason and kept Pod and JK. But Kuminga got sidelined with an injured knee and Pod is still a bit farther from a breakout season. Going for Markkanen would’ve been costly in the long-term. But the roll he’s on now makes Dub nation think about the what-if of maximizing Draymond Green and Stephen Curry’s championship window.