The Utah Jazz have pretty much accomplished what they wanted to accomplish this season: be one of the NBA's worst teams in the league in the hopes of getting the No. 1 pick in the draft. If they finish with the league's worst record, they tie for the highest odds for the fifth overall pick, and at worst, they will get the No. 5 pick.
So there's that. Plenty has been said about the possibilities of getting and not getting the No. 1 pick, presumably Cooper Flagg. However, the Jazz are owed one other first-round pick that definitely deserves attention.
Thanks to the Rudy Gobert trade, the Minnesota Timberwolves will fork over their pick to the Jazz this season. This has been discussed before because the Timberwolves have been woefully inconsistent this season following the Karl-Anthony Towns trade.
That showed itself again last night. The Timberwolves impressively blew a massive fourth-quarter lead to the Milwaukee Bucks, which dropped them to the eighth seed in the West. David Locke revealed the ramifications of that very loss, and how that could affect the Jazz.
Massive loss by Minnesota tonight. They play in Memphis on Thursday, and if they lose that they are almost certainly in the 8th spot for play-in. never know Jazz fans maybe a chance for more ping pong balls
— David Locke (@DLocke09) April 9, 2025
How the Timberwolves could give the Jazz another lottery pick
There's a lot to break down so please consider everything that follows.
First things first, the pick the Timberwolves owe the Jazz is unprotected, meaning that it belongs to the Jazz no matter what.
Second, the Timberwolves may be the eighth seed, but they are only two games behind the Lakers for the third seed. That is how crazy the end of the season playoff race has been for the West in 2025.
Third, even if the Timberwolves finish with the eighth seed, which would put them in the play-in, they are well above the two play-in teams. Currently, the two other play-in teams below the top eight are the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks.
Fourth, for the Jazz to get a lottery pick from Minnesota, the Timberwolves would then have to lose both of their play-in games to knock themselves out of playoff contention.
Fifth, if that were to happen, it would still be around a mid-first-round pick as the lottery odds would be next to non-existent.
It doesn't sound all that exciting, but hey, a lottery pick is a lottery pick. It's times like these that show why Utah asked for the farm for Gobert when they did. Sure, expecting their next franchise player from it might be a stretch, but getting a player around that draft range is a pretty solid return.
Maybe the Jazz will get their next face of the franchise in 2025, and because of the Timberwolves, the Jazz might just get his second-in-command. Crazier things have happened.