For the record, no one who associates themselves with the Utah Jazz is unhappy they wound up with Darryn Peterson. Poetically, AJ Dybantsa would have made more sense, but in no way, shape, or form should (nor does) anyone have a problem with Peterson starting his career as a Jazzman. In fact, there's always the possibility that the two could join forces down the line.
Jazz alum Olden Polynice revealed in an exclusive interview with Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson that he believes that, despite Dybantsa being with the Washington Wizards, he thinks Dybantsa wants to be a Jazzman.
"Well, the identity crisis is going to be the fact that they drafted AJ Dybantsa at number one, but I believe his heart is in Utah with the Jazz. That’s going to be an issue. You can call me a hater all you want; there’s a lot of things I don’t know in life, but basketball ain’t one of them. We know that’s where he wanted to be. He’s going to say all the right things because he’s got a good PR team, but that’s not a good situation for him in Washington."
We'll have to see about that, but we have seen players forces their way to where they want to go ever since LeBron James' decision. Even better, it has worked in their favor in recent years. Best example: Jalen Brunson going from Dallas to New York.
More than that though, we have seen teams make drastic moves because they want to avoid those dreaded tax aprons. Minnesota didn't want to trade Karl-Anthony Towns nor did Boston necessarily want to trade Jaylen Brown, but because of the complications of keeping them, they thought trading them was the best move.
Because the NBA has embraced the chaos, this could definitely be on the table.
Wizards-Jazz could work something out down the line
The Wizards are sort of following the same blueprint as the Jazz in that they have win-now veterans and young talent. It will be telling what they decide in the next few years. If it's clear they want to win now, and it's clear Dybantsa may need more time in the oven, the Jazz's win-now talent would have some appeal, like Lauri Markkanen or Jaren Jackson Jr.
However, it takes two to tango, and the Jazz would only entertain if A. they thhinK Dybantsa is the best option for them going forward and B. it's not working out with Markkanen or JJJ. It's going to be a while before they make that decison, so this would be years from now.
With all that said, we shouldn't dismiss Polynice's words here. Players have used their leverage to get where they wanted, so who's to say Dybantsa isn't an exception to this? He's also a high-character player, so it wouldn't seem like him to do this, but it's not like Brunson had some sort of attitude problem when he went from Dallas to New York.
There's a very low likelihood of Dybantsa forcing his way from Washington to Utah, but because the NBA has been pandemonium thanks to the cap, absolutely nothing is off the table.
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