The Utah Jazz faithful are looking closely at the trade deadline, not entirely sure what their franchise is going to do. At 24-26, they seem to be sputtering out a bit heading into the All-Star break, having a rough eight-game stretch. They're 2-6 in their last eight games, with two three-game losing streaks book-ending two back-to-back wins. Three of the losses were by a few points, while the others were blowouts.
It's been a rough time for the Jazz as of late. This has caused a lot of uncertainy over their immediate future, which includes the potentiality of trading away a number of players, like Jordan Clarkson, Kelly Olynyk or potentially Collin Sexton and even Lauri Markkanen. Trading Clarkson and Olynyk makese sense, as Clarkson is aging hard, at 31 and playing some of his worst ball, he's no longer a fit for the Jazz. He won't be easily replaced but he's not going to get better and his value will only decline.
Olynyk is a useful multi-faceted player, but he's older, and on an expiring contract. It's likely he'd leave in free agency to go to a team where he could ring chase, so trading him makes sense. Trading Markkanen doesn't make much sense. He's a Top 25 player in the NBA and one of the best multi-level scorers in the league.
The same goes for Sexton who has helped spark the team's turnaround from their horrendous start. The good news for fans, however, is that Markkanen isn't really up for grabs, and for the longest time, fans hoped that Sexton would get the same designation from the club. And that now appears to be the case.
According to Marc Stein (via Real GM), the Jazz aren't likely to trade Sexton, which is great news, considering how important he's been to the team this season. Stein does name Clarkson, Olynyk, and Talen Horton-Tucker as the players likeliest to be traded. So that may end up happening.