The Utah Jazz have every right to be thrilled with Isaiah Collier after how well he's played in his rookie season. He broke a rookie record held by John Stockton, and he's putting up rookie assists numbers rivaled by Ja Morant.
The warts in his game are there, and they shouldn't be ignored, but at least Collier's rookie season has been encouraging, so much so that he has earned the right to see his role expanded next season. The next few years will determine how high his ceiling is, but at least one of their young players is showing promise.
Collier's playing well enough that it might give Jazz enough incentive to explore Collin Sexton's trade market this offseason. However, that was already a possibility even before the Jazz rookie started putting it together in the NBA.
While it's not known if the Jazz plan to trade Sexton, it wouldn't surprise anyone if they did. However, Collier's play could make another Jazz player expendable. One that not many would think of as a possible trade candidate.
Collier's play could make Keyonte George expendable
The Jazz came into this season believing George was ready to take another pivotal step for them and his NBA career, and he's come well short. While George hasn't been worse than he was during his rookie year, he has mostly stayed the same.
While stalled progress is better than regression, it does make George's ceiling come into question. Making it harder is that ever since Utah switched George with Collier as their starting point guard, their offense has flowed better with a natural playmaker like Collier leading the way, even if it didn't turn into more wins.
George, on the other hand, has had some hot and cold stretches since making his move to the bench. Overall, it hasn't really made him look much better. His inconsistency makes it even more difficult to project where George fits in their rotation.
If George's lack of progress and unidentifiable role weren't enough of a concern, now it's come out that he might have a bit of an attitude problem compared to the rest of his teammates. A trade shouldn't be expected this offseason, but it might not be too shocking if George's name does appear in rumors in the coming months.
When this season is over, the Jazz have more reason to be optimistic about Collier than George. In a perfect world, both would look equally promising in their own way, but while one has shown he could be the Jazz's next great playmaker, the other has shown some scoring prowess but has still failed to be consistent.
This notion could flip on its head this time next year, and the Jazz will give George until the last year of his rookie contract to prove himself, but Utah has more reason to emphasize Collier's development than his going forward. If Collier proves them right, and George stays the same, it will be hard to justify keeping the latter around.