The Utah Jazz have three rookies on their roster at the moment; Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh. George is getting regular minutes off the bench while Hendricks and Sensabaugh are the 2nd and 3rd highest scorers per game on the Salt Lake City Stars squad, the G-League team of the Utah Jazz.
The folks in and around the Jazz seem to be high on these three rookies, with a lot of people wanting to see John Collins or Kelly Olynyk moved just so we see if Hendricks can play productive NBA minutes. That's a solid request because you'll never know until you try. The only problem is that the Jazz are both a team rebuilding and competing at the same time. They're both trying to make the playoffs and see if their young talent has it in them to be starters or stars at the next level.
And because of that, many fans have taken to believe that the future of the Jazz is these young players. They do very well maybe, but the NBA draft has proven time and time again that valuing youth over talent is never the way to go. It's for that reason we think the Jazz should absolutely be willing to trade any, if not all three, of the rookies if it means getting back someone worth happening.
We're not talking about trading Hendricks for Jermi Grant, but if someone like Luka Doncic or Nikola Jokic came up, yeah, you trade those rookies and you trade them without thinking. Now, those Top 5 types aren't likely to be on the trading block, but there are some guys who would warrant a trade.
We talked about how good Pascal Siakam would fit in Utah prior to him getting traded to the Indiana Pacers, and he would've been someone you trade a rookie for, as long as Siakam agreed to a contract beforehand. Cade Cunningham, Dejounte Murray, Mikal Bridges, and even Tyler Herro would warrant a young rookie in the deal. But outside of a young, impact player, there's no reason to even suspect that you'd need to trade a rookie.
But, the option should be on the table for the right guy.