Even though the current read on the Utah Jazz is that they will tank this season, the first two games of the season haven't been proof of that. A blowout win over the Clippers and an overtime loss to the Kings show that they might be a little more competitive than we thought. However, if the tanking plans remain unchanged, one team West team could be a problem: the Phoenix Suns.
Now, many thought the Suns would get worse this season following the Kevin Durant trade, which made a Jazz trade look pretty brilliant in hindsight, but maybe we underestimated just how much worse.
Losing Durant and Bradley Beal was sure to hurt, but we must remember that even when they had them, the Suns missed the playoffs. They didn't even make the play-in last year, then lost two of their three best players this past offseason. So, really, this is something that maybe everyone should have seen coming.
Outside of Devin Booker, they have Jalen Green (injured, redundant next to Booker, and still woefully inconsistent), Dillon Brooks (great glue guy on a contender, which isn't Phoenix), and ex-Jazzman Grayson Allen (perfect as a 7th man on a contender) as their best players on the roster in a Western Conference filled to the brim with playoff hopefuls.
Yikes.
If that's not bad enough, their center situation is still uncertain (though who knows what Khaman Maluach could turn into), and the Suns are pretty barren in terms of assets. Phoenix's makeup is so bad that it feels inevitable that they will be among the worst teams in the NBA with the Jazz.
The Suns' bleak long-term outlook is good news for the Jazz, but their immediate outlook is so bad that the Jazz should be scared of how their season could affect Utah's chances in the lottery.
It also shows the Jazz that things could be so much worse
The first two games may not show it, but this season could feature a lot of losing for the Jazz. It's never fun to watch a team lose the majority of its games, but the Jazz can sleep at night knowing they may get their next cornerstone. The Suns don't have that because of everything they have given up over the past several years.
Phoenix is pretty low on options at the moment, so for all we know, Devin Booker isn't too far behind Durant and Green. While the Suns probably don't want to tank for someone else, there's only so much losing a player can take before they want out (unless they're Lauri Markkanen).
The Jazz's plans may not result in a title, but at least the path they have put themselves on could result in one down the line. The Suns' outlook is so bad that a title seems completely out of the question for them for the next half decade. For everything that will be bad this season, the Jazz can be optimistic about themselves long-term. The same cannot be said about the Suns.