The Utah Jazz need something.
They’re good. In fact, they’re among the NBA’s upper echelon. Their 0.625 win percentage ranks 7th in the league. That’s a solid mark, but for a team whose sights are set as high as the Jazz’s, it’s not quite good enough.
There is a sense of urgency around this club. Whispers that Donovan Mitchell would prefer to play in a larger market are growing increasingly louder. Discord between him and star teammate Rudy Gobert is rearing its ugly head again. The Jazz have lost 8 of their last 10 contests. Granted, some of those losses have come in games where they were decimated by injuries.
Some haven’t. Either way, there is an air of negativity around this team. It feels like there’s only one cure for it: winning.
Winning, as they say, cures all in professional sports. The Utah Jazz need to get back to it, but they might need some help. Here are five trade targets that we think could provide it.
Utah Jazz Trade Target #1: Jerami Grant
We’re starting with the most ambitious target. It feels unlikely that the Jazz could land Jerami Grant. He’s the only player on this list who can qualify as a star in this league.
He’s also got the potential to be the most coveted player on the trade market this season. It seems increasingly likely that Daryl Morey will hold out for a certain bearded superstar before dealing Ben Simmons. If that domino doesn’t fall, NBA fans may be in for a quiet trade deadline.
Grant will probably be on the move regardless. At 27, he doesn’t fit the Detroit Pistons timeline. Whether he’d care to admit it or not, he’s also probably overburdened as their first option.
At the same time, the 20.1 points per game he’s averaging this season absolutely tell us that Grant packs an offensive punch for a guy whose best quality likely remains his multi-positional defense.
That sounds like a player the Jazz don’t have the assets to acquire. If Danny Ainge can produce this miracle, someone need to get started on his statue outside of the Vivint Arena post-haste.