The Utah Jazz wants some big names. Danny Ainge is going big game hunting, at least that's what we're being told. Is that the case? We'll certainly find out, it's a long offseason after all. We have no idea if Ainge can pull this off, but we're hopeful.
That said, just because Ainge may be able to pull off big trades, does that mean that the trades will bring in the guys we want? That's what Utah Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen wanted to find out when he started a series of polls on Twitter/X.
Larsen asked Utah Jazz fans, essentially, if for three picks and matching salaries if they would make the deal for 11 different NBA players. The responses were not wholly unexpected. Just because an NBA player is called great, or has a huge salary doesn't mean he's actually in demand. That was clearly on display here with Larsen's series of polls.
Let's ask you, Jazz fans.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 30, 2024
As you know, Danny Ainge wants to go "big game hunting." So I'm going to create a poll of some potentially available stars, and ask you:
If you were the Jazz FO, would you trade 3 first round picks and matching salary players for that star.
Ready?
In these polls, he asked fans if they would want the player (yes), didn't want the player (no) required more information (depends), or were just hanging out to see the outcome of the vote (just wanna see results). Frankly, some of the outcomes surprised us, which you can see below, courtesy of Larsen's Twitter/X account;
"Kevin Durant - Phoenix Suns
Yes - 25%
No - 65.8%
Depends - 2.4
Just Wanna See Results 6.7%"
"Joel Embiid - Philadelphia 76ers
Yes - 47.3%
No - 45.9%
Depends - 1.7%
Just Wanna See Results - 5.1%"
"Luka Doncic - Dallas Mavericks
Yes - 91.9%
No - 4.4%
Depends - 0.5%
Just Wanna See Results - 3.2%"
"Devin Booker - Phoenix Suns
Yes - 53.4%
No - 37.6%
Depends - 3.5%
Just Wanna See Results - 5.4%"
"Trae Young - Atlanta Hawks
Yes - 16.7%
No- 76.1%
Depends - 2.4%
Just Wanna See Results - 4.8%"
"Zach LaVine - Chicago Bulls
Yes - 5%
No - 89.1%
Depends - 1.2%
Just Wanna See Results - 4.6%"
"Zion Williamson - New Orleans Pelicans
Yes - 38.5%
No - 53.9%
Depends - 2.9%
Just Wanna See Results -4.7%"
"Brandon Ingram - New Orleans Pelicans
Yes - 18.8%
No - 73.8%
Depends - 2.4%
Just Wanna See Results - 4.9%"
"Mikal Bridges - Brooklyn Nets
Yes -25.2%
No - 67.6%
Depends - 2.2%
Just Wanna See Results - 5%"
"DeJounte Murray - Atlanta Hawks
Yes - 16.2%
No - 76.8%
Depends - 1.9%
Just Wanna See Results - 5.1%"
"Jaylen Brown - Boston Celtics
Yes - 56.9%
No - 36.3%
Depends - 2%
Just Wanna See Results - 4.8%"
As you can see, the only four players who received a positive set of votes were Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, and Jaylen Brown. It's not surprising that these four were the names that got more yes than no votes, as Embiid is a former MVP, Doncic is the star of a rising Mavericks team and an MVP candidate, Booker is still one of the best shooters in the league and Brown is a great two-way guard.
They're all clearly worth the money and picks needed to land them. The rest of the list, however, is made up of admittedly good players, but players who lack a certain something. Either they have they're not very well-liked, injury prone, lacking in one huge area of the game, are too old, or have proven themselves to not be the star-level player the Jazz require.