The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, and it's safe to say it didn't bring the kind of result Utah Jazz fans were hoping for. After finishing with the worst record in the association in 2024-25, the Jazz looked to be in a prime position to land the top selection in the draft and to have a chance of drafting Cooper Flagg. Now, it appears they may have to go the route that will unquestionably make fans increasingly frustrated — Tanking for another season.
This whole draft lottery process and specifically this year's results have left many fans of the Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and others to question: How on earth are small market teams supposed to improve? The three aforementioned teams had the best odds of landing the number one pick pre-lottery, and now all of them will be picking outside the top three.
Seems a bit unfair, doesn't it? Now, the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers, all of whom currently employ at least a top-15 player in the NBA and have talented rosters, will get to add some of the best players from the upcoming draft on top of that.
Meanwhile, the teams like the Jazz that lack a true star have no real way to improve — Outside of getting lucky with internal improvement or pulling off some sort of big trade. And even though some talking heads might say differently, it's pretty obvious that a team like Utah ended up in this position not because they were trying to lose every single game, but simply because they aren't good enough.
Another season of tanking could be in the cards for the Jazz
So where does that leave Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George and company? Back to the drawing board, unfortunately. This was statistically the literal worst-case scenario for the Jazz, given that the lowest their pick could have fallen to was fifth. They had a 52.1% chance of *not* ending up with the fifth pick, and only a 47.9% of actually getting the fifth pick. And yet, here we are.
Again, it's an impossibly frustrating scenario for Utah, who finally bottomed out this year after being in the middle of the pack among Western Conference teams that didn't make the playoffs in the previous two seasons after trading Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. But not winning the lottery (or even coming close, really) just means they will have to give it another go next season.
The one positive in all this is the fact that the 2026 NBA Draft class is extremely loaded. The Jazz will have the chance to take any number of exciting young prospects next season, especially if they can avoid dropping as low as fifth again.
We know that the one foolproof method for a small market team to get ahead is to draft well and then develop their talent internally. If Utah can make a rock-solid selection at pick number five this year and then nail what's hopefully a top-three pick next summer, they'll be much closer to getting back to the playoffs once again.
This is a painful process, without a question. No die-hard Jazz fans want to see this team tanking again next season. But the fans who are patient enough to watch this group see things through can hold on to hope that it will all be worth it in the end.