The Utah Jazz's trade of Simone Fontecchio has been an abject failure

Talent acquisition is the name of the game, but sometimes some people think they can trade off good players for great players. That mathematically makes sense, as there's always the potential that someone like Simone Fontecchio, a starter in the NBA, can be traded for a draft pick that turns into an All-Star or All-NBA caliber player. Most of the time, however, that's not what happens.

The Jazz made the bold choice to trade Fontecchio to the Detroit Pistons for Kevin Knox, Gabriele Procida, and a 2024 second-round pick. That second-round pick is expected to be early in the second round, making it more valuable than a conventional second-round pick, but the odds of that pick turning into a player on the level of or better than Fontecchio is low. So low, it makes no sense to make the move in the first place.

Fontecchio was playing well for the Jazz, was close to Lauri Markkanen in age, and proved his value in the FIBA World Cup this past summer. He was someone the team could rely on, and help develop to be a piece of a playoff squad going forward.

Instead, he was traded for spare parts and low draft picks, and Fontecchio has answered accordingly. Since arriving in Detroit, the Italian forward has just shy of 48% from the floor, just shy of 43% from the three-point line, and nearly 85% from three. All while averaging 15.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and nearly two assists per night.

Not only that, but his defense has improved in his 16 games since joining the Pistons, with his DBPM jumping from -1.2 to -0.4. Considering how bad the Pistons are, the fact that he's almost posting a positive defensive metric is impressive.

The move to trade Fontecchio was a bold one and the hope is that it pays off eventually, but the problem comes with the fact that Knox is gone, Procida is in Germany currently, hardly playing any real minutes for ALBA Berlin, and second-round picks don't usually turn into players worth having.

If this trade doesn't net them anything in return and the team fails to convey their own first-round pick, then it's time to start firing people because clearly, Fontecchio was better than we were made to realize during his stay in Salt Lake City.