What do the latest trades, like Fox to San Antonio, mean to the Jazz? (Sara Nevis via sltrib.com)
Deals are flying! Teams have been active ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, and it can be hard to figure out what each deal means, and how it could impact the landscape relating to the Jazz. Don’t worry, we got you.
The natural reaction of a fan base to any trade is, “Hey wait, why couldn’t my team have gotten that player/pick/asset?” Which is a fair response, but there also could be downstream impacts in terms of Utah’s likelihood of carrying out other business, or insights as to what a trade says about the market rate for different transaction types. We’ll analyze all those things as the trade updates pour in this week.
This post will be updated with each new deal, including a bit of overall analysis and what each transaction could mean to the Jazz. Since we covered the Jazz’s own weekend deals, we’ll start with the trades from Sunday forward, through the trade deadline.
Last updated 2/5 at 11:12 p.m.
Jazz angle: The Kings did well here, and this could help inform the trade value of the borderline All-Star tier when the Jazz eventually go into “buyer” mode. The Fox tier is an interesting one for the Jazz to monitor. Whenever they draft their stud and start looking to put together their new core, it’s far less likely to a someone in the MVP candidate tier than someone with a couple of All-Star selections or All-Defense nods who they think could still take a mini-leap. The Kings got LaVine — a good player, but overpaid relative to his impact on winning — and really two 1sts.
Fox himself could have been an interesting Jazz target at some point, but it makes more sense to get complementary stars once you know what it is you’re trying to complement — in other words, once the Jazz have an idea what they’re bringing back in the draft. If he were a top-10 player, then yeah, you throw everything at an offer and figure out the rest later, because that’s the type of player who can dictate what you’re building towards. But for a top-30 guy, you probably want to know what you’re pairing him with. And Fox, a 2026 free agent, wanted to land in San Antonio anyway.
This is also interesting since the Kings were a team rumored to have interest in John Collins before their priorities evolved relative to Fox. They could theoretically still go get a big to reinforce their rotation, but we’ll see if Collins is still a consideration for the Kings.
Jazz angle: Yawn. If there’s anything to be said here about Jazz impacts, it’s that second rounders move around a lot, so don’t get too obsessed over whether Utah has picks in the “right” years. They were a bit light on seconds until their recent trades, but now that they have several to play with, they could certainly reallocate them around.
Jazz angle: This is honestly a pretty good second: slated to be 37th currently, but Philadelphia does look like it’s trying to pick up some momentum, so this could wind up a mid second-rounder. The Jazz probably don’t have player quite like Martin in terms of meeting the Mavs’ positional needs, so it’s unlikely they could have made a version of this deal. Dallas is also currently light on ball handlers (behind Kyrie Irving), so we’ll see if they have other ambitions ahead of Thursday.
Another Jazz-related thought: it’s kind of ironic that Grimes has become kind of a throw-away salary after all of the debate about whether he would be on or off the table in a hypothetical Knicks trade package for Donovan Mitchell back in 2022. He is having a career year from three, though.
Jazz angle: There were some Jordan Clarkson-focused Bucks rumors, and actually this deal might make something like that more attainable on paper; now that the Bucks are below the second apron, they could hypothetically aggregate salary in a trade, which creates more avenues to complete a deal in that salary range.
Kuzma is two years older than Collins, and pretty inefficient by NBA standards. So while the former Utah Ute will always appeal to some fans in Salt Lake City, it’s unlikely Kuzma was a real consideration for the rebuilding Jazz.
…and…
Jazz angle: Both of these trades are just about financial flexibility. Springer has only played 141 minutes this year, but his $4M salary was going to cost the Celtics several multiple of that in tax. The Rockets’ reward for absorbing that small salary was that they netted a 2nd. In a separate deal, the Pelicans got under the tax line by incentivizing the Thunder to take Theis, also for a second.
These trades are pretty similar in value to the Jazz absorbing Jalen Hood-Schifino over the weekend, a favor for which Utah was rewarded with two incremental seconds. That would suggest that the Jazz got pretty good value.
Jazz angle: This one does appear to make a Collins-Kings marriage less likely, as Sacramento got a much cheaper (but also more offensively limited) big man in Valanciunas. On the other hand, they still have a little bit of room to operate under the tax and remain really light on ball handlers.
Also, this move keeps Valanciunas away from the Warriors, who were rumored to have interest, and the Lakers who still badly need a big man. Collins isn’t exactly the same type of center as JV, so I’m not necessarily saying that he answers either team’s need, but this trade could send ripple effects out in terms of other teams needing to regroup after My Name is Jonas came off the board. The Suns also had reported interest in JV, primarily as a way to move off of Jusuf Nurkic. How desperate might they be now to find a way out of Nurk’s contract?
Jazz angle: The Jazz angle in this case is that, well, they were in the trade.
Schroder doesn’t figure into the plans. In fact, the Jazz could flip him and receive up to $20.78M in salary, they just can’t combine his salary with other players. It would be kind of funny to watch the Jazz gradually step up in salary, from Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills ($7M combined), Tucker ($11.5M), to Schroder ($13M) and then on and on. More likely, he’ll be a buyout candidate, although his market there will be limited because he’d be ineligible to join apron teams based on his pre-trade salary.
Utah gets another 2nd for helping make this trade work. Miami could have just taken Schro, but ex-Heat Tucker meets their needs better and is cheaper, allowing them to stay under the first apron. This trade could help the Warriors (currently .500) catch the Wolves, whose pick will land with the Jazz this season.
Miami only got a single (protected) 1st for Butler, an all-league player as recently as two seasons ago. But that probably doesn’t say as much about the cost of acquiring him as it does about the total lack of leverage Miami had in that situation.
Jazz angle: Probably not a huge Jazz impact here, other than that Sims’ movement probably impacts the market for Collins because it’s another team finding a solution for a big body. Wright will join his 10th team.
Jazz angle: The Pelicans were another team to watch, for several reasons. One is obviously the #pickwatch slant, but they’re also a team that might have gone to just about any extreme between everything’s-for-sale-make-us-an-offer and we-also-wouldn’t-mind-getting-better. Obviously this is a buyer trade so in the end they sort of became a competitor to Utah on that list, but I never really heard about Toronto sniffing around the Jazz’s guys, so that aspect is probably not a big loss.
Ingram is another guy like Fox who might help to understand the market for when the Jazz go hunting for quasi-stars at some point. The return on both of those deals (broadly: good players and a 1st or two) is probably good news if the Jazz are to imaging what they might pony up when they go shopping in a similar tier at some point. But again, Fox and Ingram probably don’t fit the bill at this point; neither is good enough to declare the rebuild over, but they’re too good to stay on course for a blue-chip prospect in the draft. The worst thing a rebuilding team can do is lose patience and get in a hurry to get back to 38 wins.
Former Jazz center Olynyk hits his fifth team in as many seasons.
Jazz angle: Let’s start here: Walker Kessler was never going to land in Laker yellow. The Jazz’s position on him hasn’t changed much. They’re willing to be on him because he’s good, under team control, and has a valuable skill set.
Because Knecht is in the first year of a rookie deal, this is essentially the same as Charlotte getting two 1sts. That might feel like an overpay for a guy who has appeared in 84 games in three seasons, but Williams has been pretty intriguing when he’s healthy. He’s not necessarily better than Kessler as of today, but you could argue he has a better best-case scenario, which means something like this is probably akin to the return Utah could have expected for Kessler. But right now he’s the best 23-and-under player from Utah’s rebuild, so I understand wanting to keep him. I wonder if the Jazz have an idea what ballpark he’ll be asking for in extension negotiations, which still start this July.
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