Despite yet another losing season, everything really is going the Utah Jazz's way. They got the No. 2 pick in a loaded draft, they have the inside track to keep Walker Kessler, and they will have very loaded team with a clean bill of health starting next season.
In fact, things are going a little too well for the Jazz because the NBA basically prevented a potential nightmare from the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade from ever happening, as the anti-tanking rules that have been passed prevent them from giving Memphis a high lottery pick next season.
ESPN's Shams Charania confirmed that by a 29-1 vote, teams basically won't be allowed to get a top-five pick three seasons in a row. Because Utah has had a top-five pick for two straight years and sent a conditional pick to Memphis as part of the JJJ deal, they will be unable to give the Grizzlies a top-five pick should they somehow be bad enough for that to happen.
Breaking: The NBA's Board of Governors has passed new anti-tanking rules that include expanding the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, a relegation zone where the bottom 3 teams get penalized with lessened chances for the No. 1 pick, and flattened odds, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/e1oq10p2yV
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 28, 2026
(Bobby marks explains it more succinctly than I can)
The Grizzlies have the more favorable 2027 first of Cleveland, Minnesota and Utah.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) May 28, 2026
Because Utah has a top-5 pick this year, their first in 2027 cannot be in the top-5 under the new rules. https://t.co/U4uhXU3XmI
So, the Jazz basically made a pretty genius trade for reasons that were pretty much out of their control. It does feel a tad sickening that they voted to make it this way, but hey, so did the rest of the league so it's not like they're the only ones to blame.
The Jazz clearly chose the right time to go all in too
Even if the Jazz hadn't made the JJJ trade, they planned to flip the script after this season. These new rules demonstrate that they were right to make that decision as well, as tanking again would have prevented them from getting the same good fortune.
These rules would typically restrict small-market teams like Utah, but luckily, they made all the right moves to ensure it wouldn't be their problem for quite some time. Plus, who knows? Maybe by the time the Jazz have to start another rebuild, these rules won't be in place to get in their way.
For what it's worth, this really isn't fair to a team like Memphis, who made what they thought was the best possible trade involving an excellent player like JJJ, to have to suffer for a choice that they had no way of knowing would age poorly months after the deal was made.
If Utah were in their position, they too would have a problem with this. Instead, the NBA just gave them an easy escape in case things go wrong for them. The odds aren't high that that will happen, but Utah is now getting rewarded for something they never would have seen coming.
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