After having the most underwhelming rookie season a lottery pick has ever had for the Utah Jazz, Cody Williams has not done anything to silence the critics. If anything, it's either grown louder or it's gone silent because the Jazz hardly play him. Until further notice, this is a complete disaster, and it could have been worse: had the Jazz won the lottery in 2024, they might have picked him first overall anyway.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen revealed that if Utah had gotten the No. 1 pick a year and a half ago, Williams would have been on the board.
Was told multiple times then they would have highly considered Cody Williams if they were drafting first overall. (And actually they weren’t alone in this, Atlanta liked him too.)
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2025
To be fair, this reflects on how weak the 2024 NBA Draft truly was going in. Zaccharie Risacher has talent, but he hasn't proven himself to be a franchise player. However, imagine if the Jazz had picked him over Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan, and Zach Edey?
More than that, could you imagine the Jazz paying potentially over $57 million for Williams on his rookie deal like the Hawks are with Risacher? Granted, it's likely the Jazz won't pick up the fourth year on his deal at this rate.
If the Jazz had picked Williams at No. 1, the decision would have looked potentially 10 times worse. It already looks bad enough that multiple guys picked after him have badly outshone him, like Matas Buzelis, Jared McCain, and even his own Jazz teammates, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowksi.
He has left so much to be desired that we're at the point now that not only could the Jazz have picking him have gone down as one of the most infamous NBA blunders of the past decade, but now many have questioned why Utah ensured he would have a spot on next year's team.
Are the Jazz past the point of no return with Cody Williams?
The Jazz sent Williams to the G-League (finally!), where he'll finally get some reps, but because of how much time has passed, his skeptics are right to roll their eyes at the possibility that this could be good for his development.
The idea of the player Williams can be is much better than the player Williams is. What makes said idea harder to think about is that Williams has the tools to be a good defender, but because he brings nothing on offense (and has no confidence), there's no reason to put him out there.
The fat lady hasn't sung on Williams, but she's getting warmed up. It would be great to see if things change for him this season, but it's hard to think of how they could at this point.