As one of the more active teams so far this offseason, the Utah Jazz has begun to lay the framework of what they hope is a lasting foundation for this new build. So far this offseason, the Jazz has re-signed Jordan Clarkson, acquired John Collins via trade from the Atlanta Hawks, and drafted three quality players (Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh) that have the high-end potential of being future starters in the NBA.
Despite already a solid offseason, the Jazz could still have another move or two up their sleeves.
The Utah Jazz have been linked to Tyler Herro
According to a recent report, the Jazz has been named as another team that could help facilitate a Damian Lillard trade by being a possible suitor for Tyler Herro. In the event that Lillard is traded to the Miami Heat, the Portland Trail Blazers would require the recruitment of a third or fourth team to take on Herro. The Jazz appear to be at least open to the idea of acquiring Herro as a third team in that possible scenario.
The cost of joining the deal would likely be a future first-round pick. Considering the Jazz has nine first-round draft picks in the next four seasons, that would seemingly be a small price to pay for a talented young player with All-Star potential.
The question is, should the Jazz, with all the young talent that they’ve already accumulated be open to Herro? In an attempt to answer that question, we explore some pros and cons of acquiring Herro from the Heat.
The pros of trading for Tyler Herro
Tyler Herro is a budding star
All the noise aside, from a strict talent perspective, it’s hard to ignore that Tyler Herro is a budding star. He’s improved through the first four seasons of his career and is coming off back-to-back seasons in which he’s averaged at least 20 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game 44 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent shooting from 3-point range.
At just 23 years old, Herro has proven to be a prolific scorer, an underrated playmaker, and a great rebounder for his position and size. In a vacuum, Herro is a budding star in this league.
Tyler Herro could help expedite the Jazz’s build
Additionally, Herro is a player that could help expedite the Jazz’s build. Add Herro to a talented core of Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, and John Collins, even without expecting much right away from any of the team’s rookies, and you can make the argument that Utah could emerge as a dark horse playoff contender in the Western Conference.
Herro could be the star-level talent this team is missing to be a consistent threat heading into the 2023-24 season.
The cost for Tyler Herro wouldn’t be debilitating for the franchise
Another pro of the Jazz targeting Herro would be the price that it would cost. From all indications, it wouldn’t be a high one and would likely just require one future first-round pick and salary-matching. If that’s all it takes for the Jazz to take a gamble on a young, promising player, there’s no question that Utah should strongly consider making the move.
The Jazz could seemingly make this move without hurting or impacting the team’s future whatsoever.
The cons of trading for Tyler Herro
It would create a logjam in the backcourt
On the other side of the spectrum, there are also potential cons in trading for Tyler Herro. One that could emerge for the Utah Jazz is that this acquisition could create somewhat of a logjam in the backcourt. Looking at their roster, the Jazz already has Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Kris Dunn, Ochai Agbaji, and Keyonte George that will likely all command minutes right away at the 1 or 2.
If the Jazz doesn’t trade any of those players in this deal, it’s hard to imagine the Jazz being able to find minutes for all of them and also Herro, who you’d have to imagine would command a big role on the team. That would not be an ideal situation for the young Jazz.
Tyler Herro is essentially Jordan Clarkson
Another potential con that the Jazz could run into is the fact that, in the eyes of some, Herro could essentially be viewed as a duplicate of Jordan Clarkson. They are similar players in that they are offensive talents but you can probably argue that Herro’s ceiling is a bit higher than Clarkson’s ever was.
That said, if the Jazz doesn’t believe it’s that much higher than Clarkson’s, it could create a bit of an unnecessary duplication of skill sets. Considering the Jazz just paid Clarkson, it’s easy to see how it could create some hesitation when it comes to Herro.
Tyler Herro could stunt the development of young players
A third con that could arise for the Jazz if they were to make the play for Herro is that he could be viewed as a player that could stunt the development of Ochai Agbaji and Keyonte George. If the Jazz are as high as they appear to be on George, you want him to get as much experience as he can right away. Trading for Herro could prevent that from happening, especially after re-signing Clarkson.
The same could be said about Agbaji who showed promising signs during his rookie season this past year with the Jazz.
It’s not anything about Herro particularly that would stunt the growth of other young players on the Jazz, it’s the amount of minutes and how much he’ll handle the ball that could have an impact on Agbaji and George’s short-term development.
The odds of the Utah Jazz being the eventual landing spot for Tyler Herro
If the reported interest from the team is indeed genuine, and with Danny Ainge in the front office (considering his previous admiration of Herro) it may be, there’s at least a fair chance that a deal could work. Considering the Jazz could easily make the money work by sending out Kelly Olynyk and Talen Horton-Tucker and that they have an extra first-round pick to send to Miami too, this seems like a deal that could somewhat seemingly come to fruition without much trouble.
From a theoretical standpoint, if the Heat and/or Blazers needed the Jazz to be included in this deal and Utah wanted to participate, it’s easy to see how it could come to fruition.
The big question is whether this front office believes they’re ready to add a player of the caliber of Herro at this point in the rebuild. Would Herro help this team make the jump it wants to take next season in the Western Conference? And, perhaps most importantly, would his presence on the roster make sense with Collin Sexton, Clarkson, Ochai Agbaji, and Keyonte George already in the backcourt?
In a vacuum, you take the gamble on the 23-year-old All-Star level talent at the cost of one first-round pick almost every time. But does it make sense for the Jazz with their current foundational pieces already in place?