Getting the No. 5 pick was the worst outcome for the Utah Jazz after the season they had. It's bad enough that there has been plenty of speculation that they will try to trade up. However, someone well-connected with the franchise revealed that won't be the case.
The Athletic's Tony Jones reported that the Jazz are fine with the pick they got, signifying that they won't trade up.
This is not welcome news for fans hoping that they will trade up for a potentially better prospect. It's natural for fans to want the highest pick possible, and there's a solid rationale that the Jazz have the assets to move up if they want.
But they don't, and that likely won't change on draft night pending any surprises.
Why the Jazz see it this way
The common reaction to what happened during the lottery was looking at the glass half-empty. Again, as the worst team in the NBA, getting No. 5 was the worst possible scenario. As much as that sucks, there is validity to looking at the glass half-full.
The No. 5 pick is still a high lottery pick no matter what. The Jazz still have high odds of getting a fantastic player from the draft, even if their odds aren't the highest. There's a reason why they weren't the only NBA team that basically threw their season away.
Even with the risk of losing out on Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, the most sure-thing talents coming into the league, the 2025 NBA Draft class is loaded with talent. So even if they didn't get lucky with the lottery, it wasn't the end of the world.
No player in particular stands out as an obvious pick after the top two. There are certainly candidates like Ace Bailey, Tre Johnson, Jeremiah Fears, VJ Edgecombe, and Kon Knueppel. In essence, it's a crapshoot; luckily, they all have a high ceiling or a high floor.
That batch doesn't share the same level of promise as Flagg and Harper out of the gate, but that doesn't mean they may not be on their level or potentially better throughout their NBA careers. Everyone has to remember that no draft in NBA history has ever had its best players be the ones picked in the top five.
The No. 1 pick typically pans out well, but looking at the history of the No. 2 and No. 3 pick, it's dicey. The fanbase is justified in their frustration at getting No. 5 after the Jazz's worst season ever, but if Utah believes that their next lottery pick will be an integral part of their youth movement, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.