What type of contract can the Jazz offer?
Markkanen has been eligible to sign a four-year, $113 million extension since free agency opened in early July. Because he is limited to only a 140% increase in Year 1 off his current $18 million salary, the new contract is considered below market value.
Where the Jazz benefit: the $37 million available in cap space and Markkanen reaching the third-year anniversary of the four-year contract he signed in 2021.
Because both criteria have been met, Utah is allowed to increase his $18 million salary this season up to $42.2 million (the maximum for a player with seven to nine years of service) and then extend an additional four seasons. The total amount of maximum new money over this season and the next four years is $232 million.
The $24 million in cap room used, combined with new contracts for Eubanks and Juzang, would put Utah at the minimum salary floor.
There are two other options in how Utah can structure Markkanen's next contract.
The Jazz can increase his current salary to $42.2 million, decreasing the first year of the extension to $35 million and then increasing in Years 2 to 4 by 8%. The total amount of new money would equal $180 million.
The Jazz would still have $13 million available to use in a trade or sign a free agent.
Below is what the renegotiation and extension would look like:
2024-25 -- $42.2 million ($18.1 million plus $24.1 million)
2025-26 -- $35.0 million
2026-27 -- $37.8 million
2028-29 -- $40.6 million
2029-30 -- $43.4 million
In the past two seasons,
Jonathan Isaac,
Jordan Clarkson and
Myles Turner increased their current salaries with cap space and then decreased the first year of the extensions. (For example, Isaac's $17.4 million salary this season increased to $25 million. The first year of the extension in 2025-26 starts at $15 million.)
The trade-off for taking less is Markkanen signing the extension after Aug. 6, thus eliminating the distraction and possibility he could get traded on Feb. 6. Finding some sense of stability at least for this season should be an important consideration given Markkanen, 27, has been traded three times since 2017.
The Jazz could also renegotiate his salary this season to $33.1 million and then extend for four years and $207.8 million. This is a similar contract setup to what
Domantas Sabonis and the
Sacramento Kings agreed to last July.