The Utah Jazz are in a bit of a sticky situation with Lauri Markkanen. He’s an All-Star-caliber win-now player on a team with the ingredients of a win-later squad. However, the Jazz were unfairly criticized for not trading Markkanen to the Golden State Warriors when they had the chance last year.

On “The Kevin O’Connor Show,” O’Connor and Chris Mannix exchanged the following regarding how the Jazz look one year after electing to keep Markkanen over trading him to the Warriors.

Mannix: “Do the Jazz regret not getting some kind of deal done for Markkanen last year with Golden State?”

O’Connor:“Hell yeah!”

Mannix:“Yeah, this is what I’m saying. Like they did what Danny Angie always does. You hold out for the motherload. And a lot of times it works. A lot of times you get a counterpart that is desperate. Golden State was not desperate and they were smart not to go all in to get Lauri Markkanen on that team.”

This is an unfair criticism because it’s not an accurate recollection of what happened.

The Jazz shouldn’t be criticized for a deal that was never truly on the table

The Jazz were not looking to deal Markkanen at the time. The Warriors asked about him, to which the Jazz set their price and did not budge. Not only had Markkanen proven himself a star, but he was underpaid for his services, so they made it clear that the Warriors had to give every asset they could for him.

Utah knew Golden State’s desperation at the time, and had nothing to lose by playing hardball with them. That’s why conversations never truly got off the ground. The Warriors may have managed without getting Markkanen, but before they got Jimmy Butler, they were in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the second straight year. If anything, Miami bailing them out is why not giving in to the Jazz’s demands makes them look smart.

Maybe the Warriors have no regrets now, but the Jazz held the same position on Markkanen then that they do now: they weren’t going to hand him over, as the pairing of Markkanen with Stephen Curry could have been lethal, and there would not have been any guarantee that what Golden State had dangled would match Markkanen’s level.

Utah might regret how they’ve handled Markkanen since, but they shouldn’t regret potentially selling low on him, which they would have done if they had succumbed to the Warriors’ low offer. It’s not a shot at the likes of Brandin Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga, but there’s very little chance they’ll be as good as the Jazz star.

Plus, for all we know, a year from now, the Jazz might look even smarter for not trading Markkanen then or will look smarter for trading him for much more value than they would have had they agreed to the Warriors’ terms in a Markkanen trade. Big narratives can change in little time.

The Jazz likely would prefer to have a do-over for some of their decisions in the last three years, but not trading Markkanen to the Warriors is certainly not one of them.