Following a first-round postseason exit in 2022, the Jazz traded away Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, kick-starting the tear-down of a roster that had made six consecutive playoff appearances at the moment. Three years later, Utah has stockpiled a ton of future draft picks and opened up much more cap flexibility going ahead, however the present roster seems even much less outfitted to get again to the playoffs than that post-Gobert/Mitchell squad did getting into the 2022/23 season.
The Jazz’s lack of ahead progress is comprehensible to a sure extent. Though Gobert and Mitchell have been traded in the course of the 2022 offseason together with Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale, it took a pair extra years for Utah to unload most of its remaining productive veteran rotation gamers, together with Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kelly Olynyk, and Simone Fontecchio.
With a number of of these vets nonetheless on the roster and the Jazz having carried out effectively to amass gamers like Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and Collin Sexton within the Gobert and Mitchell offers, the crew outperformed expectations in the course of the first half of the ’22/23 and ’23/24 seasons, necessitating extra trades because the entrance workplace regarded to enhance its place within the lottery and snag a excessive draft choose.
Nevertheless, after profitable 37 and 31 video games in these two years, the Jazz picked simply ninth general in 2023 and tenth in 2024. Utah nonetheless loaded up on rookies in each drafts, having additionally chosen sixteenth and twenty eighth in ’23 and twenty ninth and thirty second in ’24, however with out a choose within the prime half of the lottery, the crew got here out of these drafts with loads of query marks as a substitute of an apparent franchise cornerstone.
Whereas Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski displayed some promise as rookies this previous season, No. 10 general choose Cody Williams was one of many NBA’s least efficient rotation gamers, and 2023 first-rounders Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh have been main defensive liabilities for a crew that ranked lifeless final within the league with a 119.4 defensive ranking. 2023 lottery choose Taylor Hendricks, in the meantime, had an up-and-down rookie season, then suffered a season-ending leg harm throughout his third recreation of his sophomore yr.
With so many veterans having been traded away and so most of the Jazz’s younger gamers not giving the crew optimistic minutes, the entrance workplace lastly acquired the bottom-out yr it was on the lookout for this previous season — Utah’s 17-65 report was the worst of any NBA crew in ’24/25, in addition to the worst mark in crew historical past.
Sadly, after not getting any luck from the again half of the lottery in 2023 and 2024, the Jazz didn’t fare any higher in 2025, falling from No. 1 within the pre-lottery standings to No. 5 within the draft, a worst-case final result (albeit one which had a 48% probability of taking place).
A report in March indicated that the Jazz view the final three years as their “tear-down” interval and that, of their eyes, the rebuild is simply now getting began. With no purpose to need to take a big step ahead in 2025/26 (Utah’s 2026 first-round choose shall be despatched to Oklahoma Metropolis if it lands exterior the highest eight), the Jazz will probably method this offseason with the expectation that they’ll be spending a minimum of another yr close to the underside of the NBA standings.
The Jazz’s Offseason Plan
Having slipped to No. 5 on lottery night time, the Jazz probably don’t have a path to touchdown a possible franchise participant like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper. Nonetheless, it’s value giving the Spurs a name about No. 2 to see what it might take, since a San Antonio crew that already employs De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Fort could also be prepared to take heed to pitches for Harper. In all probability although, the Jazz will find yourself staying put at No. 5, so which goal makes probably the most sense in that spot?
Following a first-round postseason exit in 2022, the Jazz traded away Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, kick-starting the tear-down of a roster that had made six consecutive playoff appearances at the moment. Three years later, Utah has stockpiled a ton of future draft picks and opened up much more cap flexibility going ahead, however the present roster seems even much less outfitted to get again to the playoffs than that post-Gobert/Mitchell squad did getting into the 2022/23 season.
The Jazz’s lack of ahead progress is comprehensible to a sure extent. Though Gobert and Mitchell have been traded in the course of the 2022 offseason together with Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale, it took a pair extra years for Utah to unload most of its remaining productive veteran rotation gamers, together with Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kelly Olynyk, and Simone Fontecchio.
With a number of of these vets nonetheless on the roster and the Jazz having carried out effectively to amass gamers like Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and Collin Sexton within the Gobert and Mitchell offers, the crew outperformed expectations in the course of the first half of the ’22/23 and ’23/24 seasons, necessitating extra trades because the entrance workplace regarded to enhance its place within the lottery and snag a excessive draft choose.
Nevertheless, after profitable 37 and 31 video games in these two years, the Jazz picked simply ninth general in 2023 and tenth in 2024. Utah nonetheless loaded up on rookies in each drafts, having additionally chosen sixteenth and twenty eighth in ’23 and twenty ninth and thirty second in ’24, however with out a choose within the prime half of the lottery, the crew got here out of these drafts with loads of query marks as a substitute of an apparent franchise cornerstone.
Whereas Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski displayed some promise as rookies this previous season, No. 10 general choose Cody Williams was one of many NBA’s least efficient rotation gamers, and 2023 first-rounders Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh have been main defensive liabilities for a crew that ranked lifeless final within the league with a 119.4 defensive ranking. 2023 lottery choose Taylor Hendricks, in the meantime, had an up-and-down rookie season, then suffered a season-ending leg harm throughout his third recreation of his sophomore yr.
With so many veterans having been traded away and so most of the Jazz’s younger gamers not giving the crew optimistic minutes, the entrance workplace lastly acquired the bottom-out yr it was on the lookout for this previous season — Utah’s 17-65 report was the worst of any NBA crew in ’24/25, in addition to the worst mark in crew historical past.
Sadly, after not getting any luck from the again half of the lottery in 2023 and 2024, the Jazz did not fare any higher in 2025, falling from No. 1 within the pre-lottery standings to No. 5 within the draft, a worst-case final result (albeit one which had a 48% probability of taking place).
A report in March indicated that the Jazz view the final three years as their “tear-down” interval and that, of their eyes, the rebuild is simply now getting began. With no purpose to need to take a big step ahead in 2025/26 (Utah’s 2026 first-round choose shall be despatched to Oklahoma Metropolis if it lands exterior the highest eight), the Jazz will probably method this offseason with the expectation that they will be spending a minimum of another yr close to the underside of the NBA standings.
The Jazz’s Offseason Plan
Having slipped to No. 5 on lottery night time, the Jazz probably do not have a path to touchdown a possible franchise participant like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper. Nonetheless, it is value giving the Spurs a name about No. 2 to see what it might take, since a San Antonio crew that already employs De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Fort could also be prepared to take heed to pitches for Harper. In all probability although, the Jazz will find yourself staying put at No. 5, so which goal makes probably the most sense in that spot?
ESPN’s most up-to-date mock draft despatched Oklahoma level guard Jeremiah Fears to Utah. As Jonathan Givony acknowledged in that piece, it’s not an excellent match, on condition that the Jazz spent first-round picks in each 2023 (George) and 2024 (Collier) on level guards, however this rebuild isn’t far sufficient alongside – and neither George nor Collier is established sufficient – for the entrance workplace to prioritize match over the very best participant out there. If Fears is the participant atop the Jazz’s board after they’re on the clock, they need to take him.
There shall be different candidates in play. Whereas Ace Bailey and V.J. Edgecombe are broadly thought of the next-best prospects after Flagg and Harper, Utah might pounce if one in all them slips to No. 5. If not, Texas taking pictures guard Tre Johnson is value an extended look. He and Fears each in all probability have extra offensive upside than any of the children Utah drafted in 2023 or 2024.
Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel, Noa Essengue, and Derik Queen are among the many different prospects who could possibly be on Utah’s radar, however I believe the Jazz might finally find yourself selecting between whichever two gamers from that Bailey/Edgecombe/Fears/Johnson group are nonetheless on the board at No. 5.
Along with choosing at No. 5, the Jazz maintain the No. 21 general choice, giving them a number of first-rounders for a 3rd straight season. Whereas it’s attainable they received’t be keen to include two extra first-year gamers right into a roster that’s beginning to tilt fairly closely towards guys on rookie scale contracts, I feel that may be extra problematic if a number of of their 2023 and 2024 picks had already established themselves as dependable rotation items. However since a lot of these younger gamers will nonetheless must struggle to earn common minutes, it doesn’t harm so as to add one other one to that competitors.
The Jazz’s choose at No. 21 will rely on how the primary two-thirds of the primary spherical play out, however there are a number of fascinating names who is perhaps out there in that vary, together with large males Asa Newell and Maxime Raynaud.
As Utah continues to construct out its base of younger expertise, the entrance workplace may even have main choices to make on a number of of its veterans, beginning with a pair of younger vets: Markkanen, who simply turned 28, and Kessler, who will flip 24 in July.
Markkanen signed a long-term extension with the group final summer season and is beneath contract by means of 2028/29. Kessler solely has one yr left on his rookie deal, however might find yourself being locked up for even longer than Markkanen if he and the Jazz are in a position to work out a rookie scale extension in the course of the 2025 offseason.
The query is whether or not Markkanen and Kessler, each of whom have been the topic of commerce rumors previously yr, are seen as long-term keepers or whether or not Utah will take into account transferring both of them this summer season.
I’d wager on Markkanen sticking round for now. He’s coming off an injury-plagued season by which his taking pictures averages plummeted to 42.3% from the ground and 34.6% on three-pointers, effectively under his profession charges and even additional under the numbers he put up throughout his first two years in Utah.
Markkanen is owed $196MM over the subsequent 4 years and his commerce worth is the bottom it’s been since his breakout All-Star season in 2022/23. Now isn’t the time to maneuver him, even when his presence raises the Jazz’s ground and would possibly compromise the membership’s means to vie for a top-four choose once more in 2026 — as this yr’s 17-win efficiency exhibits, he solely raises that ground a lot in a aggressive Western Convention.
Kessler is arguably a extra fascinating case. In the event that they need to hold him past the 2025/26 season, the Jazz will probably must pay large cash to do it. The younger middle has impressed as a rebounder and rim protector and has made some strides on the offensive finish over the course of his three NBA seasons.
He has a stronger résumé than Onyeka Okongwu did when he acquired a four-year, $62MM extension from Atlanta two years in the past. Latest offers for Wendell Carter (three years, $58.7MM), Jakob Poeltl (4 years, $78MM), and Nic Claxton (4 years, $97MM) could possibly be used as comparables in the course of the Kessler negotiations. It wouldn’t shock me in any respect if he will get an even bigger deal than all of them.
If the Jazz aren’t satisfied that Kessler is their middle of the longer term, this offseason might be the time to make a transfer. Would the Lakers be prepared to half with the identical package deal (Dalton Knecht, an unprotected first-round choose, and a choose swap) that they agreed to ship the Hornets for Mark Williams earlier than well being considerations scuttled that deal? It appears very attainable, and so they wouldn’t be the one crew with official curiosity.
The thought of buying and selling a 24-year-old middle who has been probably the most spectacular of any Jazz gamers on rookie scale contracts doesn’t sit particularly effectively with me. In any case, Kessler is clearly younger sufficient to be a part of Utah’s subsequent playoff crew. However that subsequent playoff crew would possibly nonetheless be years away from materializing, and beneath this Collective Bargaining Settlement, golf equipment must watch out about which gamers they make investments closely in. That call is looming on Kessler, so we should always discover out quickly whether or not or not Utah is snug signing him to a profitable four- or five-year deal.
The Jazz’s different three veterans – Sexton, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson – will all be on expiring contracts in 2025/26, assuming Collins workouts his $26.6MM participant choice, which looks like a comparatively protected wager. I’d view all three as commerce candidates, although it will likely be troublesome to extract a ton of worth for Sexton or Clarkson, each of whom are undersized, offense-first taking pictures guards who will be attacked on protection and are incomes greater than the mid-level. Utah might maximize its return on both participant by taking again undesirable multiyear wage from a crew in search of extra flexibility going ahead.
Collins is probably the most intriguing participant of this trio to me. He had a pair disappointing seasons after signing a five-year, $125MM contract with Atlanta in 2021, however he has arguably grow to be undervalued in Utah. Though he was restricted to 40 appearances in 2024/25, Collins performed a few of the finest basketball of his profession, averaging 19.0 factors and eight.2 rebounds per recreation with a powerful .527/.399/.848 taking pictures line.
And Collins wasn’t simply placing up empty stats on a foul crew. Utah had a -0.9 internet ranking throughout his 1,220 minutes on the ground, together with a 113.3 defensive ranking. By comparability, in the course of the 2,741 minutes he wasn’t on the ground, these numbers nosedived to -12.9 and 121.1, respectively.
I’m undecided whether or not the Jazz view Collins as a participant who has a long-term future in Utah, particularly since he’s at his finest enjoying energy ahead, which is Markkanen’s pure spot. But when they’ll’t discover an interesting commerce provide for him and he’s prepared to take a pay minimize on his subsequent contract, signing him to an extension wouldn’t be the worst final result for the franchise.
Wage Cap State of affairs
Assured Wage
Lauri Markkanen ($46,394,100)- Collin Sexton ($18,975,000)
- Jordan Clarkson ($14,285,714)
- Taylor Hendricks ($6,127,080)
- Cody Williams ($5,742,480)
- Walker Kessler ($4,878,938)
- Keyonte George ($4,278,960)
- Kyle Filipowski ($3,000,000)
- Brice Sensabaugh ($2,693,760)
- Isaiah Collier ($2,638,200)
- Whole: $109,014,232
Non-Assured Wage
- KJ Martin ($8,025,000)
- Svi Mykhailiuk ($3,675,000)
- Mykhailiuk’s wage will grow to be assured if he stays beneath contract by means of June 30.
- Johnny Juzang ($2,840,518)
- Juzang’s wage will grow to be assured if he stays beneath contract by means of June 30.
- Jaden Springer ($2,349,578)
- Springer’s wage will grow to be partially assured for $400,000 if he stays beneath contract by means of July 25.
- Elijah Harkless (two-way)
- Whole: $16,890,096
Lifeless/Retained Wage
Participant Choices
Crew Choices
Restricted Free Brokers
Two-Means Free Brokers
As a result of he’s not eligible to signal a two-way contract, Potter’s qualifying provide could be value his minimal wage (projected to be $2,461,463). It will embody a small partial assure.
Draft Picks
- No. 5 general choose ($9,069,840 cap maintain)
- No. 21 general choose ($3,512,520 cap maintain)
- No. 43 general choose (no cap maintain)
- No. 53 general choose (no cap maintain)
- Whole (cap holds): $12,582,360
Extension-Eligible Gamers
- John Collins (veteran)
- Extension-eligible till June 30 if participant choice declined or in July if participant choice is exercised.
- Walker Kessler (rookie scale)
- Collin Sexton (veteran)
Except in any other case indicated, these gamers will grow to be eligible for extensions in some unspecified time in the future in July.
Unrestricted Free Brokers
Cap Exceptions Out there
The Jazz undertaking to function over the cap however under the primary tax apron.
- Non-taxpayer mid-level exception: $14,104,000
- Bi-annual exception: $5,134,000
- Commerce exception: $3,564,000
Except in any other case indicated, commerce exceptions received’t expire earlier than the common season begins.
