The Utah Jazz were lambasted for swapping Collin Sexton for Jusuf Nurkic this past offseason. Bringing up why is beating a dead horse, as the fans are very aware of why that was the case. However, Nurkic has been solid enough for the Jazz that they could actually get something for him if they put him on the market.
NBA Insider Jake Fischer revealed that Nurkic's performance has been good enough that he may have a trade market after all.
"Jusuf Nurkić, meanwhile, has performed well enough in Utah that he's also expected to generate some interest from rival teams as he plays out his own $19.3 million expiring deal," Fischer wrote.
It turned out the Jazz needed Nurkic more than everyone had thought, as Walker Kessler's season-ending injury forced him into a starter's role. Nurkic is past his prime, isn't all that mobile of a center, and is a negative defensively at this stage of his career. However, he hasn't been all that bad for the Jazz.
7.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 24.7 minutes per game aren't too shabby for a starting center. Plus, with his contract expiring, Nurkic would provide a team with some cap flexibility this coming offseason.
Nurkic wouldn't get them a haul by any means, but reading between the lines of what Fischer says here, he'd get the Jazz more value than they did out of Sexton.
No matter who's better, Nurkic has more value than Sexton
Sexton was a good soldier in Utah and improved as an all-around player, but the fact that he only got the Jazz Nurkic, who was previously a disaster in Phoenix at this time a year ago, showed that the league simply doesn't value players like him all that much. Score-first guards who can be exploited defensively aren't seen as effective players. If they did, Utah would have gotten more for him than Nurkic.
Even if Nurkic isn't in his prime, he is a quality rotation big (strictly speaking), which playoff teams like having. He is also a pretty unique player who can operate in the high post and score down low, though these days, he's not as good at scoring down low as he used to be.
Still, when playoff teams start to figure out what they truly need, Nurkic proving he's still got something left in the tank could be enough for one in desperate need of a big to be just desperate enough to give something of value for him. There's no telling if that would have been the case with Sexton, but remember, Utah couldn't find any takers for him until Charlotte called once his contract was expiring.
With all his flaws, teams want players like Nurkic more than Sexton because they've proven more effective and aren't as easily replaceable. If Utah gets more out of Nurkic than they did out of Sexton, then it demonstrates that maybe that trade wasn't so bad after all and that the Jazz made the most out of a situation that wasn't really all that winnable in the first place, no matter what.