Ranking 3 recently named Utah Jazz trade targets

Utah Jazz Trade Target #3: Josh Okogie

Honestly, it’s hard to know where to even begin in discussing the problems with the Utah Jazz targeting Josh Okogie.

We don’t mean to be rude. Okogie is a 23-year-old with good potential. He’s a high motor player with sound defensive instincts and good athletic gifts. He’s also averaging 12.7 minutes per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

What are we doing here?

The Jazz need an immediate difference maker. It makes little sense for them to target a still-developing player who is struggling to crack the rotation of a team below them in the standings. They’d be better off developing the young players they already have on the roster.

It’s easy to see why the Wolves don’t trust Okogie yet. He’s canning 29.4% of 1.1 three point attempts per contest this season. In the Jazz’s three-point dominant attack, that simply won’t fly.

A look at Okogie’s young career doesn’t inspire much hope, either. He’s a career 27.4% shooter from long range, and he’s yet to crack the 30% threshold in four seasons.

His 0.5 Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) is solid, but it’s not remarkable enough to compensate for that lack of three-point efficiency. Okogie is a solid defender, but if the Jazz are going to acquire a non-spacer, he’ll need to be an elite one.

As we said, Okogie has every opportunity to develop into a starting caliber NBA player. The Jazz should let him do that somewhere else.

They don’t have time to spend on development.