The one negative aspect of the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade for the Utah Jazz is that it's all hype. Jazz fans will have to wait for several months before the Jazz really take off with JJJ, but hey, at least it will feel like Christmas morning when they do.
There's not much to frown about with this trade. JJJ's among the NBA's worst rebounders for his size, and yet he'll play on a team that can easily cover that up. The Jazz will eventually have to trade some of their guys because of how expensive his contract is, but there's so much talent on the team with him onboard that they can probably withstand the loss(es).
But there's another aspect about this trade that doesn't get enough attention that makes it look even better: trading for him took care of the Jazz having too much youth on their roster.
Before the trade, Utah had plenty of young players who needed time to develop, but it was clear that they had too many who would need playing time that the Jazz might not have been able to offer to all of them. If they hadn't pulled off the deal, it would have gotten worse, as the Jazz have put in pretty strong efforts to keep their pick this year, which would have added yet another youthful player to their surplus.
The Jazz still have many young players, but it's manageable
After the JJJ trade, let's do a headcount of all the Jazz's young players, and we'll exclude Keyonte George and Ace Bailey, as it's clear they are part of the future, but with the following players, it may not be as certain:
-Isaiah Collier
-Kyle Filipowski
-Brice Sensabaugh
-Cody Williams
Add in a high lottery pick to those four, plus JJJ, George, Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, along with the likely re-signings of Walker Kessler and Jusuf Nurkic this offseason, and the Jazz still have a bit of a roster crunch, but at the very least, the situation would be tougher if they had Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr.
Hendricks has looked demonstrably better since joining Memphis, and Clayton following in his footsteps is certainly a possibility. Even so, Utah shouldn't regret trading them in part because those two probably wouldn't have gotten the chances they've been getting with the Grizzlies if they had stuck around with the Jazz.
The JJJ trade is sure to raise the Jazz to a whole new level next year, but it also did them a favor to cut down on too many youthful players and too many draft assets. Improving their standing is one thing, but taking care of a problem before it was sure to become one is another.