The Utah Jazz emerged as big winners from night one of the 2025 NBA Draft. They ended Ace Bailey's expected slide at pick No. 5 before drafting national champion Walter Clayton Jr. with the No. 18 selection.
Like a lot of teams, though, the Jazz are still suffering the repercussions of past trades. In this case, it's beloved former point guard Mike Conley, whom Utah shipped to Minnesota during the 2022-23 season.
It was a mammoth three-team deal involving the Timberwolves and Lakers. While the Jazz didn't surrender a first-round pick, they sent a 2025 second-round pick and 2026 second-round pick to Minnesota.
The 2025 second was supposed to be the No. 31 pick, but the Timberwolves traded that to the Suns for the No. 36 pick and two future second round picks, per ESPN's Sham Charania. Minnesota then traded the 36th pick to the Lakers for the No. 45 pick and cash considerations.
The T'Wolves used that pick on Brisbane Bullets center Rocco Zikarsky, who is a towering 7-4 with a 9-7 (!) standing reach. He is only 18 years old so the defensive ceiling - in addition to his size - is absolutely massive
Jazz still feeling effects of trading Mike Conley to the Timberwolves
Zikarsky is a fantastic pick for the Timberwolves, who are fresh off a Western Conference Finals appearance. This three-team trade won't be finalized for another two years, but let's take a look at the updated trade details.
- Jazz receive: Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones, 2027 first-round pick (via the Lakers)
- Timberwolves receive: Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 2024 second-round pick (via the Lakers), Zikarsky, 2026 second-round pick (via the Jazz)
- Lakers receive: D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt
The trade almost hasn't had any payoff for the Jazz. Westbrook agreed to a buyout once the trade became official and signed with the Nuggetts. Can't fault Utah for that. Neither party wanted to move forward together.
But Jones and Toscano-Anderson? They played almost no role with Los Angeles before the deal. Sure enough, Toscano-Anderson was not re-signed that offseason, while Jones was traded to the Cavaliers for cash considerations.
While the Conley trade didn't do any harm to the Jazz, you would think they would be closer to playoff contention (not title contention). They just finished with the worst record in basketball this past season and failed to win the lottery.
The silver lining? Danny Ainge has all of his future first-round picks to trade for a potential star and multiple tradable assets to add to the treasure chest of picks.
At some point, though, these assets need to turn into wins.