The J-Notes
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5 Players the Utah Jazz gave up on a bit too soon

By Jared Koch

Paul Millsap, Utah Jazz (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Paul Millsap, Utah Jazz (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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ATHENS, GA – CIRCA 1981: Head coach Hugh Durham of the Georgia Bulldogs talks with his player Dominique Wilkins #21 during an NCAA College basketball game circa 1981 at the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. Durham coached at Georgia from 1978-95. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GA – CIRCA 1981: Head coach Hugh Durham of the Georgia Bulldogs talks with his player Dominique Wilkins #21 during an NCAA College basketball game circa 1981 at the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. Durham coached at Georgia from 1978-95. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

5. Dominique Wilkins

While Dominique Wilkins never ended up officially putting on a Jazz uniform, Wilkins’s career did start with the Jazz as he was drafted to the franchise 3rd overall in 1982.

With the Jazz using such a high pick on a young star like Wilkins, you would think Utah would plan on keeping him to develop into a nice, young player, right?

Haha. No.

Instead, the Jazz thought that the best course of action would be trading Wilkins about two months after the draft to the Atlanta Hawks for John Drew and Freeman Williams. If you haven’t heard of those two names before until now, don’t worry, neither did I.

John Drew was a career 20-point-per-game scorer with Atlanta before getting shipped to Utah; but ended up getting banned from the league after under 150 games with the Jazz due to his cocaine abuse. As for Freeman Williams, he played 18 games with the Jazz before finding a new home in the CBA. What a return!

Yeah, it’s safe to say that this was one of the worst draft night trades in NBA history. If the Jazz decided to keep Wilkins, they could’ve entered the 1983 season with a core of Dominique Wilkins, Darrell Griffith, Adrian Dantley, and Mark Eaton. Instead, they traded for a 28-year-old forward with a drug issue.

The Jazz ended the 1983 season with a pitiful 30-52 record, while Wilkins went on to Atlanta to average 17.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, enough to get him a spot on the All-Rookie team. If the Jazz decided to stick it out with some of their young talents here, this could’ve resulted in championships for the franchise.

Next. NBA 2023 Mock Draft 1.0: Utah Jazz select 3 studs in first-round. dark