The Utah Jazz have been busy this summer. Trading away John Collins and Collin Sexton, along with cutting Jordan Clarkson, Johnny Juzang, and Jaden Springer, makes for quite the offseason overhaul. There's no telling if the moves they've made this summer will pay off in the long run, but if there's one solace to all of this, it's that cutting ties with Jazz alumni has helped them immensely before.
There have been five particular times that the Jazz have parted ways with a player that paid huge dividends for them in the end. It hasn't always worked out, as currently, Utah is in fact still dealing with the after effects of cutting ties with Derrick Favors, but it has worked to their advantage.
Here are five Jazz alumni whose exit from the team turned out to help Utah in the end.
1. Spencer Haywood: Traded in 1979
Haywood is an undeniable basketball legend. His contributions in the ABA and NBA made him a Basketball Hall of Famer. In fact, his lone half season with the Jazz, back when they were in New Orleans, as he averaged 24 points and 9.6 rebounds while shooting nearly 50% from the field.
And yet, any Jazz fan who knows the Haywood story knows that he was responsible for the team acquiring one of its earlier franchise legends: Adrian Dantley. Haywood may have won a championship the season following the Jazz trade, but the truth was, he was past his prime when he did.
Dantley on the other hand went on to become one of the best scorers both in Jazz and NBA history. In the seven years he played in Utah, he made six All-Star teams, two All-NBA teams, and even got some MVP buzz. This included four seasons where he averaged over 30 points a game.
When they say one man's trash is another man's treasure, in the Jazz's case, that was Dantley. And it wouldn't have happened without Haywood.
2. Jeff Malone: Traded in 1994
In what is regularly considered one of the best trades the Jazz ever made, Malone was swapped for Jeff Hornacek midseason in 1994. Hornacek went on to become a Jazz legend, playing a huge role in the team reaching new heights when they made two consecutive NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, which they have yet to see since.
Malone was not a bad player by any means. The guy could flat-out score; in 11 of his 13 NBA seasons, he averaged from 12.1 points a game to 24.3. There's a fair argument that he was better overall than Hornacek was as a player because he could get buckets.
But it was clear right away that Hornacek was the better fit. While not the scorer Malone was, Hornacek was the perfect complement next to John Stockton. His shooting and playmaking raised Utah's ceiling, and he was a consistent contributor all five and a half seasons he was a Jazzman.
Malone, on the other hand, was firmly past his prime two seasons after Utah traded him. If acquiring Hornacek wasn't a big enough win, getting rid of Malone just before his time in the NBA was up made it even better.
3. Enes Freedom: Traded in 2015
Back when he was Enes Kanter, Freedom was once considered the Jazz's future, as the former No. 3 pick they wanted to develop after parting ways with Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. The post-scoring dominance was undeniable, but so was his laughable defense in almost every facet.
Utah could have rolled the dice, hoping that one day he'd be able to figure it out, but it was becoming clear that then-sophomore Rudy Gobert was the better option. Freedom also wasn't too keen on being part of the Jazz going forward, so that made it easier to trade him.
Trading Freedom to Oklahoma City basically handed Gobert the keys, and the rest was history. He went on to become one of the best rim protectors the NBA has ever seen, while Freedom became more of a utility big who was best known for Billy Donovan infamously saying, "Can't play Kanter."
4. Joe Johnson: Traded in 2018
Alright, so unlike some of the other players mentioned, the reason why the Jazz trading Johnson was considered at the right time wasn't just about the fact that he was past his prime, but it was also about the chain reaction of what it led to.
Every Jazz fan remembers how good Johnson was in his first year in Utah. He may not have been Iso Joe, but he could still score. His efforts helped push the Jazz past the Los Angeles Clippers, effectively ending the Lob City era.
But it was clear in his second season that Johnson had fallen off completely, which led to the Jae Crowder trade, giving them some extra juice. That then led to the Mike Conley trade, which pushed them even further. Johnson's career basically ended while the Jazz got some pretty solid postseason results because of him.
5. Dante Exum: Traded in 2019
Oh, this will be painful. Many fans were on Exum Island when he was a Jazzman, and it sadly never paid off. Exum had the talent to be something special, but he was one of the unluckiest players in Jazz history as injuries, time and time again, took him out.
Utah was very patient with Exum, as the team even gave him an extension despite his unavailability. When they had aspirations to make a legitimate playoff run, Exum's injuries only continued to stand out like a sore thumb, so at long last, they traded him for Clarkson.
Clarkson gave Utah some needed second-unit scoring on some of their playoff runs, but Exum never quite shook the injury bug, as he was out of the league for two years. While he has since carved out a niche with the Dallas Mavericks over the past two seasons, this was the right decision, as Exum's impact in Utah was always hypothetical, while Clarkson's impact was factual.