The Utah Jazz are going through more growing pains that we had hoped for going in. Some of these growing pains have been a matter of simply being victims of magnet balls while others have been due to untimely injuries to valuable players like Jaren Jackson Jr. No one needs to freak out just yet, but a 1-4 start is still a 1-4 start.
When a team depends on its young talent as much as the Jazz are, this isn't that surprising that they need a minute before they start winning games. In fact, previous Jazz playoff teams also started their season poorly but managed to put it together just in time.
However, there's no telling how this season will go, and if the losing continues to happen, the conditional draft asset the Jazz owe the Memphis Grizzlies suddenly becomes an elephant in the room.
Because of the JJJ trade, Utah wills end Memphis the best asset between their own, Minnesota's, and Cleveland's this season. The Timberwolves and Cavaliers are still vying like they have been since the termination of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era. It's a safe bet that they might have better seasons than the Jazz.
If they do, and the Jazz continue to struggle, they may hand over a lottery pick to the Grizzlies, one of the NBA's early surprise teams. It can be a problem to have a potential powerhouse get a lottery pick. It would also be cruelly ironic since Utah spent most of last season not only tanking, but also making sure Oklahoma City didn't get their pick from the Derrick Favors trade.
To be fair, it wouldn't be all bad if Utah finishes badly
Thanks to the NBA's new lottery rules, if the Jazz finish with a bottom record, they can't get a top-five pick because they have had two consecutive top-five picks. In other words, if the worst-case scenario, Memphis can't benefit from it entirely, though they could still benefit greatly from it.
This isn't something to worry about but it is something to keep in mind as the season progresses. Utah did not enter the season with any intention to tank, so fans better believe their hopes are firmly for everything to get better from here. There's a solid chance that both Utah and Memphis get what they wanted from the JJJ trade.
If the Jazz get it together, this could look super funny when it's all said and done, but until Utah is able to do just that, we can't ignore this elephant in the room.
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