Restocking the Shelf with Seconds

Kenyon Martin Jr. is on his way to the Jazz, along with a bunch of additional second rounders. (Rick Bowmer via stlrib.com)

The headlines will say the Utah Jazz didn’t make any big moves prior to the NBA trade deadline.

The headlines will be right.

Utah didn’t acquire any All-NBA talent. No All-Stars, past or present. They didn’t add to their stash of eleven or twelve future first-round draft picks.

What they did acquire was a bevy of draft picks, just not the type fans have become accustomed to celebrating.

For two and a half years, Utah has been amassing a war chest of sexy, valuable draft capital. If these assets were tangible, first-round picks are the type that would be displayed lovingly on the mantle under an LED light. In contrast, the more modest assets the Jazz picked up this week might be stored on a shelf in the mud room. They might not be much to look at, but occasionally they’re just the right tool for the job.

By the time the clock struck 1:00 p.m. on deadline day, five new second-round picks had been stacked on the shelf, the results of three separate transactions.

But how they got them, and the cost to get them, was an entertaining series of transactions that developed over a week’s time, and one in which the frequent response to individual transactions was a halfhearted “meh.”

Nevertheless, once the bevy of deals was completed, my mind automatically zoomed in on the business and financial aspects of the transactions, so whether you asked for it or not, here’s an accountant’s accounting of the Jazz’s last week in the NBA marketplace.

PICK 1

The first move went over with a thud. Fans weren’t impressed with swapping Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills for nearly 40-year-old P.J. Tucker and journeyman center Mo Bamba, although some were excited to see if the Jazz could develop Bamba. Alas, he was waived the next day to make way for another incoming player. Those same folks were even less dazzled with the draft pick that accompanied the pair of former Clippers, and with some good reason.

Last offseason, when Russell Westbrook came to Utah for the second time in a salary dump, the Jazz had received the right to swap second-round picks with the Clippers in 2030. This new asset gave access to both assets, both the best of the two selections, whichever one that is, and the least of the two. Receiving the lesser of two picks is clearly less valuable than the more favorable pick, but it’s still an incremental asset. Four second-round picks is better than three, which was all the Jazz owned at the end of January.

Fans on social media also questioned the price the Jazz paid for the incremental 2030 pick. The real cost of the pick acquisition is the number you get by offsetting the incremental salary the Jazz would pay Tucker and Bamba for the rest of the season with the amounts they saved by not paying Eubanks and Mills. The Clippers also sent cash in the deal, which was almost precisely the amount needed to pay Bamba’s salary for the remainder of the year.

Spoiler: this is the most expensive individual second rounder Utah acquired this draft cycle, but it’s not excessive at all. In recent years, we’ve seen picks change hands for $3 million or more, although those were once draft order was already set.

In addition, expectations were high that Tucker and the Jazz would agree to a buyout, which probably would have cut the price of this pick roughly in half. Instead, Tucker was eventually traded elsewhere.

PICKS 2 & 3

Before that happened, Utah struck another deal, famously facilitating the Lakers-Mavericks swap that resulted in Luka Doncic moving to Los Angeles. To make the deal work for the primary teams in the transaction, the Jazz waived Bamba and absorbed the contract of 2023 first-round draftee Jalen Hood-Schifino. Each of the two Western Conference rivals paid the same price to grease the transaction: a second-round pick was headed to the Jazz from each team.

This time, Utah had to send the minimum amount of cash, $110,000 to its trade partners, satisfying the NBA rule that all sides must contribute something in a trade. Los Angeles and Dallas split the small sum, and the cost of these picks looked like this.

The Jazz front office had managed to obtain two second-round picks for less incremental spend than they had used to acquire Pick 1, and they were just getting started.

PICK 4

Three days passed with no new activity. On Wednesday night, shortly before the Golden State Warriors played in Salt Lake, the Warriors, Jazz, Pistons and Heat agreed to a trade. (Toronto was originally thought to be in the deal, too, but that portion fell through.) Miami’s disgruntled star, Jimmy Butler, was San Francisco-bound, but five Warriors were held out of the game due to their inclusion in the trade. No active Jazz players were held out, because only PJ Tucker, who was not with the team, was included in the deal.

Details emerged as the game started, and eventually we learned that Dennis Schroder was the lone player headed to the Jazz, and that Utah would play facilitator once again and receive another second-round pick.

No cash was changing hands in this part of the transaction, so the cost of Pick 4 was simply the incremental cash that we thought would be paid to Schroder above and beyond the amount due to Tucker for the final two months of the year.

PICK 5

As the game progressed Wednesday night, general manager Justin Zanik was notably absent, and Danny Ainge didn’t return to his seat after halftime. They were probably working on a variety of calls and potential deals that we’ll never hear about because they didn’t happen, among them was the opportunity to move Schroder before the trade to acquire him was even official. For the first time in these acquisitions, a real live NBA rotation player had landed in Utah’s lap, but he wouldn’t stay long.

Whether the German point guard didn’t want to join a rebuilding team (understandable) or the front office didn’t want to roster a 31-year-old guard on a team with a crowded backcourt (also understandable), Schroder would never officially join the Jazz even on paper. Shortly before the deadline on Thursday afternoon, the original deal had been altered.

The Pistons, who have left last season’s futility behind them and are aiming for the playoffs, added Schroder, sending Kenyon Martin Jr. and another second-round pick to the Jazz. Josh Richardson was also rerouted from the Miami Heat to Utah as some details of the trade were reworked.

For the first time in this series of deals, the Jazz dropped salary as they added assets, which results in a fascinating ledger for the second half of this trade.

Utah actually saved money while adding the Schroder for Martin and Richardson transaction to the larger trade, but earned a second-round pick in the process, presumably because they weren’t just receiving dead or impaired salary, but providing a playoff hopeful with a legitimate rotation player.

THE FINAL SCORE

Combining the individual trades into one massive accounting shows that the Jazz did very well, garnering five picks for just $3.3 million in incremental spend. Single picks have gone for that much in the past, although usually closer to the draft, when the selection will be used within days or hours.

In addition, the Jazz replaced the 28-year-old Eubanks – who was traded on his birthday – for an athletic 24-year-old, who will apparently return from an injury soon. The fifth-year forward hasn’t played since December 23 due to a stress reaction in his left foot, but once all players passed their physicals Saturday afternoon, Martin indicated that he hoped to return for the pre-All-Star break homestand this week. Assuming he stays with the team for the next two months, Utah will have plenty of options with him moving forward, thanks to his non-guaranteed 2025-26 salary.

By the end of a busy week, the Jazz managed to add five future second-round selections to the more impressive stash of first-round picks the club already owns. As is the case with all second rounders, these new picks have no chance of being high value trade fodder, and some of them are more impaired than others.

Still, when wheeling and dealing, a little diversity can be a good thing. When the trade market opens back up, the Jazz can shop with the confidence of a team that has sexy, mantle-worthy assets to spend, but also a some less valuable picks for smaller deals.

Where the shelf in the mud room used to be a little empty, it’s now bearing the weight of eight draft picks.