The Utah Jazz are on a roll. After starting the season 7-16 in their first 23 games, they are now 10-4 over their last 14. They're rocking a season record of 17-19 and have had wins over the Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia 76ers in recent outings. They are a different team thanks to several key changes; namely starting Collin Sexton and sending Jordan Clarkson back to the bench.
They are on a roll and everyone seems to be upping their game, including John Collins, who just had a massive game against the 76ers, scoring 19 points on 9-10 shooting. While his defense isn't greatly improved, he's playing well enough to be the fourth option on a potential playoff team. Despite that, more and more people are calling for him to be traded, us included.
But one would think the team wouldn't be interested in trading him after the recent string of success, but according to Marc Stein in his Stein Line New's Letter (via YardBarker), the Jazz are still looking to field offers for the big man, with Stein writing;
"Utah traded for Collins in July at minimal cost but the parties, to put it charitably, have not clicked. The question: Will the Jazz have any greater success in finding a workable trade than Atlanta did? Collins' name, remember, circulated at multiple trade deadlines — before and after the five-year, $125 million contract he eventually landed — until the Hawks finally salary-dumped him to the Jazz for a future second-round draft pick."
The Jazz don't "need" Collins, as his defense is non-existent and he's not been the offensive force many thought he could be. That said, Collins has been impactful in a lot of ways, and trading him would only make sense if you were able to get back a significantly better player to replace him. Guys like Kyle Kuzma are being tossed around, but if we're being honest, Kuzma and Collins are pretty comparable guys.
Kuzma's just the number one option on a bad team. Collins is the number four option on a rising team. But beyond that, they're pretty even, you'd have to get a seriously better option to replace Collins to justify a trade at this point.