The Utah Jazz have made their final pick of the 2025 NBA Draft: selecting Wisconsin guard John Tonje. Tonje was one of the most prolific scorers in college basketball, which aligns with a pattern of Utah selecting pure scorers in this draft, such as Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. This all points to Utah confronting their biggest mistake from last season: a lack of iso scoring talent.
While it's not as if Utah is completely devoid of that, as Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, and occasionally Keyonte George are all capable of going off at any moment, it's clear that Utah identified a problem that needed to be addressed. They're even going to wild lengths to solve the problem as soon as possible with their youth.
Tonje's reputation speaks for itself, as he's coming off a season where he averaged 19.6 points while shooting 46.5% from the field and 38.8% from three. Not only can he score, but he is efficient when he's trying to get buckets. At the very least, he could singlehandedly make some highly entertaining Summer League games.
There's no telling if Tonje will make the team - he certainly won't be a draft-and-stash - if his scoring translates to the pros, that's another young scorer they could have waiting in the wings. Part of forming a winner is also about having a roster full of guys capable of making a clutch shot. Tonje definitely looks the part there. Coming off his senior year, he is more NBA-ready than other prospects.
Late second-round picks don't typically pan out in the NBA, but picking Tonje is definitely something worth monitoring for Utah.
His drafting only further signals some Jazzmen will be gone
It's definitely way too early to suggest that Tonje will be an integral part of the Jazz's future. In fact, it's way too early to declare that he will be on their opening night roster. Utah picking him signifies that players like Sexton and Clarkson will probably be on new teams.
The Jazz putting an emphasis on bucket-getters means they are ready to move on from those two. Not because they're not good enough at what they do, but now, because they don't fit Utah's timeline and they have their replacements there, it would be more surprising if they were on the team four months from now.
It wouldn't be surprising at all if none of those three hit the ground running when they first become Jazzmen - in Tonje's case, if he becomes a Jazzman - so they may appear worse than the scorers already on the roster, but the ceiling that these three have could make Utah's offense go from one of the worst in the league (24th in offensive rating) to one of the best in a short span.