The Utah Jazz won't complain about losing to the Milwaukee Bucks. Doing so helps them in the tanking race, and they just got an unexpected boost from the Brooklyn Nets beating the Detroit Pistons earlier today. However, them playing the Bucks tight despite their intentions and how undermanned they are shows how much better their long-term prospects are compared to Milwaukee.
We're beating the dead horse to bring up what's coming for the Jazz next season, as Jaren Jackson Jr. and co. are sure to make some noise in the West. However, look at the Bucks' situation by contrast.
They still have Giannis Antetokounmpo, but for how much longer? They don't have the prospects to get better from their current standing, they have a lot of dead money on their cap from Dame, and their next best player after the Greek Freak is... Myles Turner?
If you put the Bucks roster against the Jazz next season, Antetokounmpo is the best player in the matchup, but one could argue that the next five best players in that matchup are - in no specific order - JJJ, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, Walker Kessler, and Ace Bailey.
That's how bad things have gotten in Milwaukee
Utah has light at the end of the tunnel that Milwaukee simply doesn't
The funny thing about the Bucks this season is that the route they've gone is the best one for them. Getting a lottery pick is a good choice, but they can't lose too much because of the pick swap they owe to Atlanta (if they are worse than the Jazz's current best friends, the New Orleans Pelicans).
Even so, after that, they won't have real control over their pick until 2031. Is Antetokounmpo really going to bank on a young talent developing quickly enough to get the Bucks on track? How long is that going to take?
With each passing day, it's going to be less and less justifiable to keep Antetokounmpo (on the flip side, it's completle irrational for Antetokounmpo not to ask for a trade), and that's been long overdue. Even if and when they pull the trigger, there's no telling just how long it will take Milwaukee to have a promising future again.
Utah knows how that feels, but hey, at least everyone knows that the Jazz will reverse their fortunes next season. Or, minimally, they plan to. Contrast that with the Bucks, whose future is not only as dim as it gets, but it's hard to figure out what their plan even is.
That's why losses like these make it even sweeter knowing the Bucks, a team with no discernible direction, just did the Jazz a favor in ensuring their discernible direction gets all the better.