The Utah Jazz have finalized their training camp roster following all the moves they made this offseason. Even if their regular-season results may be the same, the roster composition will be very different. Among the changes is one of the worst moves they made during the offseason that they probably already regret: swapping Collin Sexton for Jusuf Nurkic.
Yeah, even a few months later, it's still hard to make sense of this deal. Nurkic is more expensive, is the lesser player, and the Jazz had to cough up some draft capital on their own end to facilitate the deal. Sexton may not have had much trade value, but even still, It's hard to wrap your head around why the Sexton era ended with Nurkic as the main trade return.
Despite projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Jazz already have a ton of frontcourt talent that are either good now - Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler - are have the potential to be down the line - Kyle Filipowski and Taylor Hendricks - so it's hard to see Nurkic getting too many minutes behind those four.
It's beating a dead horse at this point. Yet, one could argue it has only gotten worse since the deal was made for reasons besides the trade itself.
Utah got rid of promising talent to keep Nurkic
It's already hard enough to see how Nurkic finds a role in Utah, but they cut the much younger, higher-potential big man that is KJ Martin. While not a star by any means, and like Nurkic, he would have had issues finding a role in the rotation, Martin has more to give on the basketball court than Nurkic does at this point.
The only reason he got cut is that his contract was nonguaranteed, making it easier to open up cap room. So, Nurkic was acquired for a better player, will take up more cap room no matter what Utah does with him this season, and because of his contract situation, he gets preference over players who arguably deserved it more.
To top it all off, he really shouldn't be on a rebuilding team like the Jazz with his career winding down. While definitely not Portland Nurkic, he still is good enough to be a backup center on a playoff team. With the Jazz, he's a backup's backup.
Utah was right to part ways with Sexton, as making that moves will afford them a closer look at Keyonte George, Isaiah Collier, and Walter Clayton Jr. this season. However, just becaise that was the right decision doesn't mean Nurkic was the right guy to trade him for.
It's not going to hurt too much in the long run, but the trade will stand out like a sore thumb until his Jazz tenure ends.