Many kept their eyes peeled on what the Utah Jazz planned to do when they acquired Dennis Schroder in the Jimmy Butler deal. One day later, it was confirmed that Schroder would be re-routed to Detroit while the Jazz would acquire K.J. Martin and Josh Richardson.
It's gonna be K.J. Martin, Josh Richardson and a 2028 second-round pick from Detroit to Utah, source says.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) February 6, 2025
With that trade, the Jazz had 17 players on their roster, so they had to trim the fat. The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen and Deseret News' Sarah Todd confirmed that Richardson and Jalen Hood-Schifino would be waived.
Jazz will waive Josh Richardson and Jalen Hood-Schifino, keeping KJ Martin from today's deals.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 6, 2025
— Sarah Todd (@NBASarah) February 6, 2025
It is a little surprising that Hood-Schifino will be waived because the Jazz had interest in him before they acquired him from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Luka Doncic trade. For all we know, he'll be on the SLC Stars and/or the Jazz's Summer League in the coming months.
The bottom line is that they made those trades primarily to acquire more second-round picks. However, they also got someone good out of it. Martin has been a solid player for the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Jazz basically got him for PJ Tucker. It's not like he'll greatly improve the on-court product, but they should be very impressed that they got him.
Here's something else to keep in mind about Martin.
The Jazz could use his deal in a trade in the offseason
The second year of Martin's contract worth $8 million is non-guaranteed, which could appeal to teams trying to shed salary. Utah could aggregate his contract with others by the offseason to potentially score a bigger fish. The Jazz don't need another star for a while, but a trade like that could snare them more draft capital.
Sadly, it's kind of a broken record at this point that the Jazz make trades with draft picks in mind in their return package, but it is still an opportunity for them to pounce on. At the same time, the Jazz have used their surplus of picks to get potentially better ones, much like they did in their trade with the Phoenix Suns.
Utah may be adding to their arsenal of draft capital by adding almost worthless second-round picks, but trades like those can lead to better trades coming down the line. Utah will have to play their cards right to capitalize on these opportunities as best they can, which they have so far.
There could be such a thing as too many second-round picks, but for this reason, the Jazz might not think so.