Up until the past year or so, it's been unclear what direction the Utah Jazz were going over the past three years. What has been clear is how often they have helped teams in their pursuit of a title since blowing it up. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Clippers all have the Jazz to thank to some degree for getting to where they are.
All four teams currently have pretty high aspirations for this coming season, and the Jazz played a part in why they believe in themselves as much as they do. With the 2025-26 season not too far away, let's see how the Jazz have impacted the aforementioned playoff contenders above.
We'll start with the one who most obviously benefited from who the Jazz gave them.
Minnesota's seen their most consistent success ever since 2022
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been nicknamed the "Minnesota Jazz" for a reason. Even though their best player is Anthony Edwards, and it's not like the team hasn't developed other talented players like Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid, it's pretty clear that the Jazz played a part in why they've been as good as they have, particularly over the last two seasons.
While looking initially looking like it could have been a disaster, the Rudy Gobert trade has mostly been what Minnesota wanted. They've had one of the league's best defenses for the last two seasons, and Gobert being the rare rim protecting specimen that he is, has been the main cog in that.
If that's not enough, after a shaky start, it was acquiring Mike Conley that steadied the ship for the Timberwolves. Oh, and they also got Jazz alum Nickeil Alexander-Walker in that same deal, who sprouted into a valuable bench cog for them.
Add in Joe Ingles (a respected veteran presence in the locker room) and Johnny Juzang (an underrated pickup), and it's hard not to look at the Timberwolves and not think they are the Jazz reincarnated. If there's one team that owes the Jazz if they win a title in the next year or so, it's the Timberwolves.
While the Jazz have helped the Timberwolves the most, they've still the helped the others a lot too.
The Jazz gave the Cavaliers their best player since LeBron James
The Cavaliers haven't seen the same success with Mitchell that the Timberwolves have with Gobert, but A. they haven't been too far off and B. that just might change this season. Plus, C. Mitchell is their best player, while Gobert is at best, the Timberwolves' second-best player, or at least the second most valuable.
Mitchell has only continued to surge with the Cavaliers, and while it hasn't translated into much playoff success, that doesn't mean Cleveland made a mistake. Their problems have been more about who they surrounded Mitchell with. That sadly sounds a little familiar for Utah.
Regardless, there's no telling where Cleveland would be had they never acquired Mitchell to begin with. When many thought it was going to take a while for them to recover after LeBron left them a second time in 2018, Mitchell gave them their greatest non-LeBron hope in decades.
Oh hey, speaking of LeBron...
The Jazz helped bail the Lakers out of bleak situations (twice)
To think that in an era where LeBron himself should have given the Lakers all the hope needed alone, they still needed the Jazz to help give them hope again twice in the LeBron era. The first favor was taking on Russell Westbrook's contract so the Lakers could get some upgrades around the roster, then it was being the third team to help the Lakers facilitate the Luka Doncic trade.
Granted, if it wasn't the Jazz, it would have been someone else, but the fact remains that they helped. Whether the Lakers want to admit it or not, the Jazz have played a hand in how the Lakers have somewhat salvaged the LeBron era (even though they kind of screwed that up before Utah got involved in the first place).
It was clear in both instances that the Lakers were in situations that seemed untenable until the Jazz stepped in to help. Here's to hoping that doing so won't hurt that pick the Lakers owe them two years from now.
The Jazz have helped the Clippers round out the edges of their rotation
Compared to the other three teams, the Jazz haven't helped the Clippers as much, but they've still helped immensely. That started with the Kris Dunn trade, where he has looked like one of the best bargain contracts in the NBA since going to LA.
They helped again when they basically helped the Clippers get out of the PJ Tucker business and gave them a good backup big (Drew Eubanks) in the process. And, of course, we have to talk about the fact that Utah also practically gave the Clippers John Collins. While they aren't on the same level as the Thunder, the Clippers are going all out to go all in, and the Jazz have helped them do that.
Pretty nice of the Jazz considering the Clippers were the ones responsible for ending the Mitchell-Gobert era...