3 Utah Jazz players who improved their trade value in 2023
By Jack Simone
At the beginning of the season, the Utah Jazz were expected to be one of the laughingstocks of the NBA. They traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and seemed to be on a collision course for the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
However, all of the pieces they got back in the Mitchell and Gobert trades ended up elevating their success.
Lauri Markkanen turned into an All-Star.
Walker Kessler looks like one of the best defensive big men in the league.
Despite his injuries, Collin Sexton looks like a quality bench piece.
Everybody Utah added to their team this summer made their mark. There are very few players on the team this year that were also on last year’s squad.
Utah still has Jordan Clarkson, a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, Rudy Gay, and Udoka Azubuike. Other than that, the whole team is comprised of first-year Jazz players.
3 Utah Jazz players who improved their trade value in 2023
With how much roster turnover the Jazz had last summer, they might want to keep some consistency this year. However, at the same time, they don’t want to stay stagnant.
Markkanen looks like a bonafide star, and Kessler also seems ready to break out into stardom. Add Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, and Talen Horton-Tucker into the mix, and they have a nice young squad ready to push for the Play-In Tournament.
But adding extra pieces to that core could help propel the Jazz forward. At that point, it would involve trading players who have improved their value, including some of the players lumped into that core.
Here are the three Jazz players who improved their trade value in 2023.