Two months later, the Utah Jazz are still riding high from their decision to trade for Jaren Jackson Jr., primarily because of how good he looked in the three games he played and because of how loaded the roster will be with him next season. However, trading for JJJ did them a huge favor, as getting him stopped them from pursuing Austin Reaves, who has no plans to leave the Lakers this summer.
Before the JJJ trade happened, there were rumblings that the Jazz planned to go after Reaves this offseason with the cap space at their disposal. Acquiring Jackson immediately put the kibosh on that, but it wouldn't have mattered because ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel confirmed Reaves has no intention to leave the Lakers this summer.
"Despite teams being ready to throw a massive contract at Reaves in free agency, he holds no desire to leave the Lakers, sources told ClutchPoints," Siegel wrote. "A five-year contract north of $220 million is on the horizon for Reaves in Hollywood, as the Lakers' future is centered around him and Luka Doncic."
So if Utah had followed through with their plans to pursue Reaves, it would have failed whether they got their hands on JJJ or not. It wasn't likely to succeed anyway, but at least the confirmation that it wouldn't have further shows that they made the right move to get Jackson because, hey, they came away with something.
The Jazz's interest in Reaves was pretty confusing to begin with
This is not a knock on Reaves at all, and it's not like he wouldn't have helped the Jazz in any way had he decided he wanted to play for them, but it's not like he would have been exactly what the doctor ordered.
First of all, Utah already has a talented scoring guard in Keyonte George (and have put themselves in position to potentially get another one in the draft if all goes right). While having two of those isn't a bad thing by any means, the Jazz had enough offensive firepower with George, Lauri Markkanen, and Ace Bailey that one could argue that he would have been superfluous.
Second, for all the good that Reaves brings, he's not the best defender, and what the Jazz needed was defense. He would have brought something Utah already have enough of, and could have made their biggest problem worse.
As if the Jazz didn't have enough reasons to feel pretty good about acquiring JJJ, he fits better with what the Jazz needed more than Reaves would have. Again, that's not an indictment on Reaves at all, as he's one of the NBA's best scorers and the Lakers would be right on the money to pay him every penny, but for what Utah needs, Jackson fills more holes than Reaves would have.
Reaves to the Jazz would have been as intriguing as it would have been befuddling, which is why the JJJ trade looks even smarter because him on the Jazz is just as intriguing (if not more so) with no befuddlement whatsoever.