The Utah Jazz saw the fruits of their efforts, or lack thereof, on Monday night. After tanking the season away, the Jazz got the fifth overall pick in the draft. After their tanking gamble came up snake eyes, Kevin Durant had a take that Jazz fans would wholeheartedly agree with.
"Tanking must be really stressful on a organization," Durant wrote, via his X account.
Tanking must be really stressful on a organization.
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 13, 2025
The irony of Durant's comments is twofold. One, the Phoenix Suns, ie, the team he plays for, were one of the biggest disasters in the NBA, and yet, their awful season won't lead to any youth infusion thanks to the pick swap they owe to the Houston Rockets.
Two, when Durant entered the NBA in 2007, plenty of teams tanked their seasons in hopes of getting him, leading to one of the craziest lottery turnouts in recent memory. That included the Boston Celtics, who Danny Ainge ran at the time.
Anyway, Durant hit the nail on the head following what was a pretty topsy-turvy lottery turnout. Said turnout played a role in how the Jazz wound up with the fifth overall pick, and it is beyond devastating for the Jazz that they wound up with the worst fate possible in terms of their lottery odds.
Tanking is stressful because, even if it's a calculated risk, it it still a major one nonetheless. Fans are optimistic when their teams tank because there's always hope for a franchise-changing talent in the draft, but tanking doesn't guarantee that. It only gives them the opportunity at drafting one.
That's what makes the whole tanking season a hard watch while making fans only cautiously optimistic. Getting the fifth overall pick in the draft after earning the worst record in the NBA does that.
The only way things could get worse if history repeats itself with the Jazz next year. Speaking of next year...
The Jazz might have no choice but to tank again
Because the Jazz just experienced the worst-case scenario last night, fans might think it's time to change up the strategy. The problem is, the Western Conference is so loaded that there might be any other option for them at this point than to tank.
Utah might end up with their next face of the franchise, but the odds aren't good. Even so, adding a fifth overall pick to the worst team in the league, record-wise, when the Jazz don't have the prospects to improve their current squad, most likely means they'll be back at the bottom next year. Even if they have a fully healthy season, it's hard to see the Jazz improving all that much next year.
Even if fans don't want to do this again, it likely will not matter. Tanking can lead to sucky results, but in Utah's case, it's here to stay, even if that means it will be a few years of swallowing some tough pills.