The Utah Jazz will make trades when the right drama pops up

The Utah Jazz know they can't keep this tanking mentality up for long. Not if they want to keep their fanbase from leaving them. They know they need to start winning and they know that to do so, they have to be smart about how to add talents. The free agency class in 2024 isn't great at the top, with next to no major players who can elevate a franchise available.

You have a few guys who can add to a contender already, but none of them are actually able to make a contender just by joining them. The Jazz front office knows this, as Jazz GM Justin Zanik revealed just that to Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune. He spoke about how, this season specifically, the depth of free agents this season isn't great, saying;

"“If you study the free agent trends — and this is not unique to the Jazz, this is every other team that’s not on a coast — that the actual depth and quality of the free agents is not great, and it’s not going to get any better,”"

That doesn't mean the Jazz aren't going to make any moves, obviously, but they're going to do it in different ways. Zanik goes on to say;

"“We’re in a more unique position than some other teams that are faced with the same free agent list that we’re looking at. Not only just the flexibility we have but just the multiple assets we have to deal.”"

Zanik though wasn't done. He went further on to explain that the Jazz are trying to get better, but they're not pursuing the players who may hit the market. Instead, they're going to let the market peruse them. Zanik goes on to explain that the goal for the Jazz to get better is to wait for the "drama" to happen.

"“We’ve talked before about trying to predict the NBA drama that happens. You just sit there and wait for it to come, but we’re ready. You always want to get as many No. 1 guys as you can. In the absence of that, you want to get players that help the team function, and hopefully in a longer timeline than just a one- or two-year basis because of age.”"

Considering that the best players in Jazz history are almost exclusively guys they drafted, it's not shocking to hear that they're already out on most of the biggest free-agent types. They'll likely make overtures, but the goal for the team is to clearly build through the draft and trades.

What's interesting is that he cites age as a reason why guys would get moved on from quickly, which may explain why Simone Fontecchio (28) and Kelly Olynyk (33) were traded at the deadline. The Jazz have got to utilize the trade market better this season. While they landed John Collins last year, they missed out on a few other names that could've made them better.

With guys like DeJounte Murray and Julius Randle just a few of the names that may be dealt this offseason, we're hopeful that the Jazz can do more than just sit by and do nothing.