At 4-15, the Utah Jazz are well on their way to landing one of the top picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. Several exciting prospects will be there for the taking, including Cooper Flagg, who needs no introduction. If they miss out on Flagg, there are other quality prospects, like Dylan Harper.
Unfortunately, there could be a problem if that's how things turn out. In light of the possibility that the Jazz don't end up with Flagg, one fan pointed out on X that if they end up with Harper, he won't want to play for them just like his dad, five-time NBA Champion Ron Harper, did back when he played.
Ron himself then confirmed this.
As a Jazz fan, after last night, I'm embarrassed. We are tanking for Cooper Flagg, who shoots 29% from three. Who I believe is AK 2.0.
— Jamie POTS Strong (@Jamiepead) December 2, 2024
Dylan Harper, who will not come to Utah. His Dad refused to come to Utah many years ago. Tanking doesn't guarantee anything.
Correct a trade would happen!!!!
— Ron Harper (@HARPER04_5) December 2, 2024
As of now, Dylan has not confirmed if this is all true, but there's enough smoke here to conclude that there could be problems if the Jazz pick him. That could be troublesome if they tank the season only to draft a player who has no interest in suiting up for them.
We have seen high lottery picks throw tantrums over being drafted by teams they don't want to play for. Look no further than when the then-Vancouver Grizzlies picked Steve Francis with the No. 2 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft.
If Dylan doesn't want to play for the Jazz should they draft him, it puts them in a precarious position where they either play chicken or try to sell him off to a team that wants him (who would likely buy as low as possible). Either way, it would be such a shame that the Jazz could tank this season only to have a potential disaster like this happen.
The real shame of it is that even if the Jazz aren't the most desirable franchise, they have plenty of individual success stories to their name that a player like Harper could probably reach his full potential as a player if he started there. Of course, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here because we're months away from the draft or even the lottery.
If what Ron says here turns out to be true, it's a bad situation all around. But then again, the Jazz will cross that bridge when they come to it, and that's even if there would be a bridge to cross to begin with.
Editor's note: Ron Harper has since tweeted further about the situation
Stop believe what I said about my son playing in @utahjazz if me and a friend have a tweet about what team want him it’s all about fun…. I don’t control my son or a NBA team draft board… lol I see pictures of a few teams that I wouldn’t want him on but it’s not my career…..
— Ron Harper (@HARPER04_5) December 3, 2024
It actually wasn't Ron Harper who nixed a Jazz trade
For those who don't know, the nixed trade that was brought up above actually happened in 1997. Since Ron Harper was playing for the Bulls at the time, who beat the Jazz in back-to-back NBA Finals during that time, it wouldn't have made sense for the Bulls to trade him to the Jazz.
So there was a Harper who rejected being traded to the Jazz, but it wasn't Ron. It was actually Derek Harper. Harper was an underrated gem from the 1990s. Though he never made an All-Star team, he was an excellent two-way guard who could score and made multiple All-Defense teams.
The Jazz had a trade in place to get Harper during the 1996-97 season, but he rejected the trade outright because of his no-trade clause. While many would conclude that he didn't want to play for Utah because of the stigma that surrounds it, like perhaps Brandon Ingram, Harper made it clear he had nothing against Utah.
More than that, the speculation from that Deseret News article above around that time was that Harper did not want a reduced role as the Jazz's third guard. It's a shame because he may have been the difference between the Jazz having one or more titles than the none they have now.