The Utah Jazz have struck gold with their last two lottery picks: Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson. There's actually a pretty good chance they wind up among the best players to ever suit up for the Jazz if all goes well. The Jazz will look quite smart for taking them, but that doesn't erase the fact that, like any other NBA team, they have had their lottery duds.
The funny thing about the Jazz is that they don't have an extensive history of lottery picks because of they've had multiple long stretches of making the playoffs, so up until this decade, they haven't typically depended on the lottery to build their teams. That's why only six players fit the bill as a lottery bust.
And for the record, we're not doing the technicality thing where because they weren't drafted by the Jazz directly means they don't count. If the Jazz acquired their rights on draft night, they were a Jazz lottery pick through and through. If Deron Williams and Donovan Mitchell, two Jazz alumni that the team acquired on their respective draft nights, sucked in Utah, they would be on this list.
6. Taylor Hendricks (No. 9 pick, 2023)
Ugh, this feels so cruel because it really isn't his fault. Hendricks came to Utah as a project that they fully intended to develop until he broke his leg early on in Year 2. Between him having to recover from that, being in a crowded rotation of bigs and young players, and then ultimately being traded for Jaren Jackson Jr., Hendricks will unfortunately be seen as a bust as a Jazzman.
That doesn't mean he won't be a good NBA player. He actually looked like he was turning a corner in Memphis after the JJJ trade went down. More than that, any and every Jazz fan should root for him to succeed going forward.
5. Trey Burke (No. 9 pick, 2013)
A player the Jazz acquired on draft night, Burke came into the NBA hyped up as an electric scorer. He didn't necessarily come up short in that regard, but Burke was inefficient and his defensive shortcomings were easy for opponents to exploit. He had his good stretches, but more often than not, they were empty calories.
That's why Utah dumped him and never looked back. They drafted him hoping he would be their point guard of the future, but when it was clear he wasn't that, and once they brought in George Hill and Joe Johnson, Burke was too expendable not to get rid of.
4. Trey Lyles (No. 12 pick, 2015)
Lyles definitely earned his spot on here. He wasn't all too bad in Utah, but they expected more from him than what he gave. More than that, he openly complained about his role, and has gone on the record lambasting Utah and the Jazz as a whole.
It's not like it was all bad. If it weren't for Lyles, the Jazz may have never gotten their hands on Mitchell two years later. That doesn't change the fact that Lyles never quite became the player the Jazz wanted to be before burning that bridge to smithereens once they traded him to Denver.
3. Cody Williams (No. 10 pick, 2024)
It is somewhat tough to put Williams on a list like this. He was also a project, but he had the worst rookie season in Jazz history, given the expectations. Projects take time, but they typically show some promise when they first start their NBA careers. Williams showed absolutely nothing.
That was not the case in Year 2, as Williams started to sprout just a little. In fact, he had the best month of his career as the 2025-26 season came to a close. However, there's no telling whether those numbers pointed to something worthwhile or empty calories. Because the Jazz didn't want to find out, he is among the biggest busts in franchise history.
2. Dante Exum (No. 5 pick, 2014)
Life just isn't fair, is it? Exum Island was very much a thing for Jazz fans for quite some time. The talent and impact was definitely there, but Exum simply never could put it together because he was never healthy. He came in defensively elite and offensively raw, but once Utah started winning, the injuries kept coming at the worst possible time.
You know how Williams was starting to show legitimate strides towards the end of Year 2 with the Jazz? Exum never did that. He never had a *stretch* of good play, but only mere moments of good play as a Jazzman. Like Hendricks, it's not his fault, as injuries got in his way. But his never putting it together in Utah puts him this high on this list.
1. Enes Freedom (No. 3 pick, 2011)
Some may conclude that this stems from his ongoing recent controversy with the WNBA. It doesn't. Freedom is at the top of this list because he was supposed to be the face of the Jazz's future. They took him with the third overall pick thanks to the Deron Williams trade, and he was one of the primary reasons why they let Al Jefferson walk in free agency.
Freedom (back when he was Enes Kanter) had the post-dominance that screamed franchise player in the making, but his defense canceled it out, as it was internet-meme bad. It could have been worse if Rudy Gobert hadn't quickly supplanted him, but Gobert's breakout took care of the Freedom problem.
But it's more painful knowing that the Jazz could have had someone better from that draft instead of Freedom in addition to Gobert and Gordon Hayward. Before they drafted Peterson, he was their highest pick ever (along with D-Will). Seeing him out of there after only three-and-a-half years makes such a golden opportunity go to waste.
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