The Utah Jazz have been involved in a lot of what's happened with the Los Angeles Lakers over the past few years. Anytime the Lakers have had holes to fill, they have oddly asked the Jazz to help them fill it. Even odder is that the Jazz have typically complied.
Now everyone thinks of the Walker Kessler trade because that's the most recent move between the two sides. However, this trend started in 2023.
Back then, the Lakers couldn't ignore the elephant in the room anymore: the Russell Westbrook trade was a failure. He didn't fit and the surrounding pieces in LA were not helping the matter. That's where the Jazz stepped in by not only taking Westbrook off the Lakers' hands, but also giving them pieces that could have helped on paper with Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.
As hilarious as that sounds in hindsight, this trade helped the Lakers get back on their feet, as no matter how you slice it, they returned to the Western Conference Finals that season.
In all honesty, it felt like the stars aligned that year because they were never that close again in the LeBron James era. But that's only when these favors started. Utah helped Los Angeles again two years later when they helped orchestrate the ever-so-infamous Luka Doncic trade.
Once it was clear LeBron and Anthony Davis were no longer enough to keep the Lakers among the Western Conference powers, LA was out of options. Somehow, some way, Luka Doncic was suddenly on the table for them. The Lakers and Mavericks just needed a third team to make it happen. Ergo, the Jazz were called.
It's not like they were the masterminds behind it - in fact, it sounds like they were tricked - but being the third team in the trade pulled the deal off. Technically speaking, there would have been no deal if the Jazz hadn't agreed to be the third team, even if that likely what they meant to do.
And that brings us to the Kessler trade. The Lakers desperately needed a two-way center, and the Jazz were willing to part ways with him, though it was at the right price. There are still plenty of questions about the Lakers, but less so now than there was at the start of the offseason.
Of course, those favors came at a cost for the Lakers (usually)
Getting rid of Westbrook cost the Lakers a first-round pick, which the Jazz got for their troubles. Three years later, they got their hands on Jaren Jackson Jr. in part because of that deal. Dominoes falling in that direction are why Utah should be more than comfortable making those deals.
They didn't get the same luck from the Luka deal (maybe they would have if they had known what the Lakers were up to), but at the same time, Dallas not taking back that many picks because of their inexplicable faith in Anthony Davis paved the way for the Lakers to give pretty much the rest of their draft capital to the Jazz for Kessler.
So yeah, the Jazz have been there to solve the Lakers problems, but it's not like Utah didn't have their own demands when they helped LA out of their jams. Only time will tell if how the Jazz have helped the Lakers will work out for the latter, but for what they got in return, the former has no reason to complain.
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