Jazz's win over Mavericks shows who's clearly been their best player thus far

With their win over the shorthanded Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz are now at 3-8. They are one of the worst teams in the NBA, but they have won three out of their last five games. Maybe that's a cause for concern for tankers, but there's also something else that's standing out about their play thus far.

After 11 games, there's been one Jazz player who has clearly made himself stand out as the team's best player, and it's not Lauri Markkanen. Nope, it's John Collins.

That's right, the same John Collins who Zach Lowe made it clear would require a first-round pick to get him off their salary books. The same John Collins who was pretty disastrous in his first year in Utah. It could change with time, but currently, it's not even arguable.

That same John Collins has accepted his bench role with gusto. He's been an excellent teammate who's shown his rapport with his teammates. Best of all, when the Jazz have given him opportunities, he's run with them.

It was more of the same against the reigning Western Conference Champions.

He proved it against the Mavericks

Collins got the start with Walker Kessler still sidelined, but he put up an all-around excellent performance. 28 points and nine rebounds while shooting 10-for-20 from the field. Not only did he fill up the box score, but he was key to the Jazz narrowly avoiding a meltdown against Dallas.

In fact, it was Collins who scored the Jazz's last four points. They were open dunks, but Collins cleaned up the Jazz's mess and put the Mavericks away.

He wasn't single-handedly responsible for how the Jazz won. In fact, this was an all-around team victory, as the Jazz had six players who scored in double digits. However, Collins was the one who led the way.

This has been a more than welcome subplot for the Jazz's season, as Markkanen has not started the season great - he may not be over his back problems and has a new injury tonight - but Collins playing this well could increase his trade value.

Okay, it's unfair to bring up Collins in trade speculation at a time like this. It's just so easy to do it because he's done a 180 after how badly things went last season. But, whether he finishes the season in Utah or not, it is cool to see that Collins is showing himself to be the exact player the Jazz had in mind when they first acquired him in 2023.

It may be a little late, but he is showing why the Jazz took interest in him. He'll likely show up in hypothetical trades from now until February, but at least Collins is playing like he's not only collecting them checks anymore!