The Utah Jazz traded three of their best players this summer for a haul of draft picks that would leave most fan bases astounded. By moving on from O’Neale, Gobert, and Mitchell, the Jazz now have 14 picks over the next seven seasons. For my mathematicians, that’s an average of two picks per draft.
ESPN+ (subscription required) ranked the Jazz as the #1 overall team that controls next year’s draft. That makes sense, given that they will have four picks in the upcoming draft as of now, which leads the league. On top of all the new capital, they only owe one of their own to the Thunder in 2024, although it is top-10 protected, should the Jazz continue to slide/
Utah Jazz: Franchise is filthy rich with draft capital
Two years ago, the Jazz had the best regular season in the NBA. Since then, they have had two disappointing playoff losses, and will probably post one of the worst records in the league in 2022-23. But with their draft capital, they could turn it around in as fast as a year or two. The Pistons, Spurs, Hornets, Pelicans, and even the Grizzlies were middling teams for several years hoping to finally make it big in the draft, and the Jazz could manage to do it in a single season if only one of their four picks hits big. Even if two of the picks result in average players, the rebuild will be over fast.
Before the offseason, the Jazz had the fifth-fewest future draft picks. They now have the most, surpassing even Sam Presti and the Thunder.
A rebuild is never fun and rarely pretty, but the Jazz ripped off the band-aid this summer, and things should be looking up very, very soon.