Shams: Utah and Lauri expected to agree to long term deal

[Handlogten's Heros]

One of my least favorite discussion is #1 option vs #2 option talk etc. Jayson Tatum was just the best player on a championship team. Like Lauri doesn't score that much less than him... assists are more slanted to Tatum... but its weird when guys get dinged for not being a traditional ball in hand volume scorer... when its harder/more rare to do it the way Lauri does and he can grow a bit.

He's worth every penny. If we find enough players better than Lauri that are worth paying the max we can max them... its like beyond a champagne problem.

 

[MTS]

One of my least favorite discussion is #1 option vs #2 option talk etc. Jayson Tatum was just the best player on a championship team. Like Lauri doesn't score that much less than him... assists are more slanted to Tatum... but its weird when guys get dinged for not being a traditional ball in hand volume scorer... when its harder/more rare to do it the way Lauri does and he can grow a bit.

He's worth every penny. If we find enough players better than Lauri that are worth paying the max we can max them... its like beyond a champagne problem.

That, and let's say the time comes where we have a superstar we want to throw the max at. It'll likely be on the latter end of Lauri's contract, by which point Lauri's annual salary will be taking up a much smaller % of the cap than it currently will.

 

[KqWIN]

One of my least favorite discussion is #1 option vs #2 option talk etc. Jayson Tatum was just the best player on a championship team. Like Lauri doesn't score that much less than him... assists are more slanted to Tatum... but its weird when guys get dinged for not being a traditional ball in hand volume scorer... when its harder/more rare to do it the way Lauri does and he can grow a bit.

He's worth every penny. If we find enough players better than Lauri that are worth paying the max we can max them... its like beyond a champagne problem.

While I definitely agree with you on the whole #1, #2 option discourse....I do think we get to enthralled with uniqueness. Uniqueness is part of what makes a player good/valuable, but it's not uniqueness that wins you games. I feel like whenever an honest conversation is brought up about just how good Lauri is we circumvent the conversation to how unique he is instead of how good he is. It doesn't really matter who is more unique between Tatum and Markannen....what matters is how good they are.

I also don't see anyone saying we should have extended him vs not extending him at all. I think the real conversation is trading him vs not trading him. This is a forum that talked about the desire to tank all day everyday. Of course there is some tank+Lauri middle ground, but there is no doubt that having a really good is at odds with tanking.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

I’ll play devils advocate here.

Why pay a potential #2 option on a contending team the Max?

Hope we don’t have too much tie up in Lauri for when we’re eventually ready to contend.

He won't be in Utah anymore at that point. Could be gone as early as next summer.

 

[Hedda Gambler]

I’ll play devils advocate here.

Why pay a potential #2 option on a contending team the Max?

Hope we don’t have too much tie up in Lauri for when we’re eventually ready to contend.

Because there are different kind of maxes. From year 3 to 5, Lauri`s deal will be below the 30% max. Most other contenders have at least one player earning a 35% max. We actually have no way of paying anyone the 35% max unless we trade for someone already on it.

If we are ready to contend i 3-4 years, Lauri will be on a deal earning somewhere around 25-28% of the cap. Having a second option earn that is absolutely no problem at all.

 

[The Midnight]

Because there are different kind of maxes. From year 3 to 5, Lauri`s deal will be below the 30% max. Most other contenders have at least one player earning a 35% max. We actually have no way of paying anyone the 35% max unless we trade for someone already on it.

If we are ready to contend i 3-4 years, Lauri will be on a deal earning somewhere around 25-28% of the cap. Having a second option earn that is absolutely no problem at all.

True.