To some degree, the Utah Jazz have had their own unique impact in the playoffs, even if they're technically not participating in it. Their alumni have played a role in how the playoffs have turned out, including the most obvious ones, such as Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
Even players who never played in Utah but were technically part of the team have contributed to the playoffs to some degree, such as Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder.
If there's one series that has the Jazz's fingerprints on it, it's the Los Angeles Lakers series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two of Minnesota's more important players are Jazz alumni Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley, while Utah was technically involved in the still-unbelievable Luka Doncic trade.
Four games into the series, the Timberwolves lead the Lakers 3-1, despite being the No. 6 seed. This series has been closer than it looks. Games 3 and 4 featured the two sides exchanging blows for most of the game until the Timberwolves pulled away at the end, with Game 4 coming down to the last second.
To be fair, this just isn't a good matchup for the Lakers. With all the firepower they have with Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves, their fatal flaw is their frontcourt, and they're going up against perhaps the one team in the NBA that can find various ways to exploit that.
The Lakers should be proud that they've fought through that as hard as they could, but if they suffer a second consecutive gentleman's sweep in the first round, deciding not to acquire a big after trading Anthony Davis will make them look pretty foolish.
Especially because one big on the Jazz, who was available on the market, could have helped this problem: John Collins.
John Collins would have helped the Lakers immensely
Collins would have been badly needed for the Lakers, not just because of how good he was this season, but because of how much of a step up he would have been by himself compared to the traditional bigs they have on the roster.
LA simply doesn't have any trustworthy traditional bigs. They played Jaxson Hayes for a whopping four minutes in Game 4, and he never played again. He simply just isn't close to the same level as Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid. Even their non-traditional bigs like Jazz alum Jarred Vanderbilt can't play because he's a negative offensively.
To compensate for this, the Lakers played an ultra-small lineup of Doncic, James, Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Dorian Finney-Smith extensively. While it proved itself effective, the problem was that it was the only positively impactful lineup for the Lakers. That's where Collins would have been useful
With a big man who's a double-double threat, lob threat, and floor spacer, that could have given the Lakers more dynamics. He could have given them more lineups to work with, along with another scorer. He's definitely not a rim protector, but he would have given the Lakers a big man the Timberwolves would have had to respect.
It's not like Collins would have evened the odds in terms of frontcourt talent with Minnesota, but he would have been something to throw at them. It's also not like that's the Lakers' only problem in this series, but it's glaringly obvious to witness.
This isn't the first time it's been brought up that the Lakers should have traded for Collins after the Doncic trade. And remember, Collins was absolutely available and was almost traded at the trade deadline, so this was definitely an option. Third, Collins would not have cost the Lakers that much to get outside of his contract compared to other quality bigs who were available.
Now that the Lakers are at risk of being humiliated in the postseason again, even after being the beneficiaries of the worst trade in NBA history almost three months ago, failing to get Collins when it was right there will look 10 times worse.