It's kind of impressive that the Utah Jazz were the worst team in the NBA last season and yet are somehow in the midst of a teardown this summer. John Collins is now their latest casualty in their offseason changes. So, if it wasn't clear before from their previous moves, it is now: the Jazz have every intention of tanking next season.
The writing was on the wall with Collins and the Jazz after they traded Collin Sexton and bought out Jordan Clarkson. They tried to trade Collins at the NBA trade deadline, so it's no surprise that he was available to acquire in the offseason.
Fans can be upset about the return but one, it's better than the return they got for Sexton and two, teams don't pay up for an expiring contract. By trading Collins in that three-way deal with the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat, the Jazz didn't get anything good in return, but they saved a lot of money while opening up time for some of their younger big men.
Collins was one of the Jazz's best players last season, even if he only appeared in half of it. More than that, he redeemed his trade value when many believed he was on one of the worst contracts in the NBA this time last year.
With him gone, the Jazz are absolutely going to be worse next season, but at least they won't have to come up with excuses for why they were benching some of their veterans. Now they can say that they were terrible with the roster they have instead of risking getting fined by the league for benching their veterans while fully healthy.
It was already a given that the Jazz were not going to see a lot of wins next season anyway. The only difference is now fans will get to see what their youngsters are made of. Given how exciting Summer League has been, that actually might make it more fun.
There will definitely be plenty of growing pains next season, but that might be the appeal of next season. Instead of wasting minutes on veterans like Collins who clearly should be on a team like the Clippers, the Jazz will get to watch their younger players progress into the players they hope they can become.
The 2026 NBA Draft Class will be worth it
Even though Utah will be among the worst NBA teams again, this is a draft class worth tanking for. Between A.J. Dybantsya and Cam Boozer, there are a lot of golden prospects who could be the leaders of Utah's tomorrow.
The Jazz may not have gotten Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper after they tanked as blatantly as they did last season, but they feel pretty good about themselves after managing to snag Ace Bailey at No. 5. That's the kind of opportunity that tanking provides.
Even if Utah had kept all the veterans that they just got rid of, they were still going to be one of the worst teams in the league. Getting rid of them simply signaled that they weren't going to waste any more of their NBA career while they look to tomorrow.
Sure, they should have been doing this all along, but better late than never, they have further embraced a new direction, and now Collins gets to play for a team that he should have been playing for all along.
Everybody wins even if the Jazz will lose.