Lauri MarkkanenMelissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images
Thanks to the trades that removed Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz will have multiple first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029, plus several additional trades. The Oklahoma City Thunder is the only other team with a comparable stock.
Those assets, alongside Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler, give the Jazz enormous potential.
That said, Utah doesn’t feel like a true rebuilder because it just locked up 27-year-old Lauri Markkanen through 2028-29 at an average salary of nearly $50 million per season. Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Collin Sexton are also still on the roster, and the Jazz went two straight years without adopting a tank before it was too late in the season to get high lottery picks.
Markkanen may be just a trade asset for Utah, but his presence, along with his generally anti-rebuild demeanor, means the Jazz aren’t in our top five. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
They’re at least trying to get out of the middle, but the Bulls aren’t quite in the rebuilding phase yet. To do that, they’ll need to get rid of Zach LaVine’s contract, ideally without giving up any of their future picks to do so, and also find a buyer for Nikola Vucević’s contract.
Old treadmill habits die hard, and the Bulls raised eyebrows when they traded Josh Giddey from the Oklahoma City Thunder (instead of a draft pick) for Alex Caruso.
Giddey, 21, is at least young enough to be considered a growth candidate, but Chicago brought him in just as he was reaching extension eligibility.
The Bulls need to be given some leniency. After years of chasing eighth place and avoiding the pain of a true rebuild, they are new to this.
Scottie Barnes is a cornerstone, and Immanuel Quickley could be close to that status, but this team is otherwise stuck in the middle.
Jakob Poeltl is making $20 million per season, RJ Barrett is who he is, and Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown won’t look like they belong until they’re traded.
Toronto is too good to collapse and not good enough to do more than threaten a play-in spot. This is not a rebuild, despite the absence of the previous veteran core: Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby.
Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball are already good enough for the Charlotte Hornets to start thinking about a playoff push, and Miles Bridges’ three-year, $75 million contract suggests going under isn’t in the cards.
Also, keep in mind that Ball was named to an All-Star game two years ago and is already on the verge of a rookie extension. The Hornets are starting over in a sense, in that they have a new head coach, a new ownership group and new management. But they are not part of the early rebuilds that we’ll get to in a moment.
