The Utah Jazz have been very careful about their tanking. Because the 2025 Draft Class has quite a few excellent prospects, it makes sense that the Jazz have made it their mission to lose as many games as possible to aid their chances of getting one.
While Utah is expected to get a top pick in a loaded draft, they could get another lottery pick, though not quite as high, after the most recent news about the Timberwolves came out. ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Donte DiVincenzo, who was blossoming as a Timberwolves starter, will be out indefinitely because of a toe injury.
Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo is out indefinitely due to left big toe injury and will receive additional opinion, sources tell ESPN. DiVincenzo’s foot has been placed in a boot. He was averaging 17.5 points, 4.7 assists, 42% shooting on 3s as a starter in last 6 games. pic.twitter.com/Cb7QPa5MME
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 20, 2025
DiVincenzo is not a star but a glue player for the Timberwolves. In other words, he's not someone a playoff contender like them can afford to lose. He'll likely be out for a while because there's no timetable for his return. Most optimistically, he might be back around March.
It's already been bad enough for the Timberwolves, who took a massive step back after the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. Now that they are losing DiVincenzo, they are currently the No. 8 seed, only two and a half games ahead of the Spurs, who are the No. 12 seed.
Needless to say, this is the last thing the Timberwolves needed. While no one should root for or celebrate injuries, as that's despicable, the news about DiVincenzo will likely be good news for the pick the Timberwolves owe the Jazz.
That Timberwolves pick could turn into a lottery pick
For anyone who doesn't remember, the Timberwolves owe the Jazz an unprotected first-round pick this season, thanks to the Rudy Gobert trade. Their struggles were already notable enough that even before DiVincenzo's latest injury, the Jazz would have been right to keep an eye on where the Timberwolves finish.
Losing a valued role player on top of Julius Randle's fit issues and Mike Conley's decline could spell out disaster for a team that's less than a year removed from their best season in two decades. Should the Jazz expect a high lottery pick from this? No, but they should be more than happy with another lottery pick regardless, especially if it lands with in the top-10.
As mentioned earlier, the Timberwolves aren't too far ahead of the Spurs, and the teams between them are the Kings (playing better than ever), Suns (desperate to make a playoff push), and Warriors (ditto). Other Eastern Conference teams have similar records - Magic, Heat, Pistons - that if the Timberwolves slip, that Jazz pick could go from 17 to 10.
Now, there are two teams ahead of them in the tank whose seasons could really go anywhere. The Bulls aren't good (18-25) but are too good to tank. They pay their best players, like Zach LaVine, a little too much to trade him away. If they keep their team past the deadline, the Timberwolves could be worse than them.
Then there's the 76ers, another team (15-26) who no one knows what their plans are. They're in a similar boat as the Timberwolves in that not much has gone right. In fact, nothing has gone right for them this season.
They might try to go for the tank because they owe the Thunder a top-six protected pick this season and have a lot of ground to make up to return to the playoffs, but that might not stop them from trying. If they decide to go for the playoffs, that could potentially pave the way for that Timberwolves pick to go as high as eighth overall.
No one's trying to piss all over the Timberwolves grave, and so many dominoes have to fall to make this happen, but this has to excite the Jazz to some degree that they could feasibly get another top 10 pick in a loaded draft class.
It is a good reminder of why teams like the Jazz make trades involving Gobert. It's not a guarantee, but there's always a solid chance they may get their next franchise player through the draft. This may not be how the Jazz would prefer to get another high lottery pick, but they'll take it nonetheless.