The Utah Jazz have made a lot of bold trades in recent years. Trading away Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mike Conley, among others. Not every trade was loved at the time of the deal, and losing a few guys, like Conley and more recently Kelly Olynyk, hampered the team's ability to compete for the postseason over the last few years.
Yet, for the most part, every trade has had some value to it, even if we haven't been the biggest fans of it. It's all set the Jazz up for a summer of endless possibility. Hopefully, they'll cash in on that possibility, but we'll have to wait and see.
If the jazz came through and landed moves that are akin to that of the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics, it was all worth it. If not, we'll...we'd like to not think about that. So it's hard to say that any trade haunts us. It may have haunted us in the moment when they were made, but now? Eh, not so much.
And if any of the trades that have been made recently have haunted the Jazz, we wouldn't agree with the notion that it was the one involving Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Alexander-Walker has been a solid addition for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He's proven to be a good defensive player and one that has made a great impact on the team.
He's got at +1.3 defensive box plus-minus and has been a great ally for Rudy Gobert, another former Jazzman. Yet, while he's a defensive upgrade, and someone the Utah Jazz will need in a backcourt that involves Keyonte George and Collin Sexton, we don't agree with Sports Illustrated's observation that the trade "haunts" the Jazz.
While he is a good defensive player, he's no better than Kris Dunn and Dunn may arguably be, not just better, but much better than Alexander-Walker. They're very comparable on offense, and both have spent time in Minnesota, but if Dunn wasn't going to get the minutes he deserves, then Alexander-Walker wasn't going to either.
It's hard to say a player (Alexander-Walker) who wasn't better than a guy who did the same job he did (Dunn), and who wouldn't have played anyway can really haunt the Jazz.