The signs were there all along that Jazz were giving up on Cody Williams

Cody Williams was the Utah Jazz's most divisive player since Dante Exum. The difference between the two is that Exum's talent was palpable, but his body simply never held up. Williams' talent was noticeable, but only showed itself in spurts. The Jazz clearly demonstrated their faith in him by cutting ties just before Year 3.

To be fair, they traded him to get someone a little more proven, but the writing had been on the wall for some time that Utah wasn't going to take their time with Williams. They say Rome wasn't built with one day, but Utah didn't want to wait a decade for the No. 10 pick to sprout.

It is a shame because he actually was starting to give his NBA career some signs of life in Year 2. Operative word being "some." However, there were multiple signs that Williams' time in Utah was up before the trade happened.

The Jaren Jackson Jr. trade

This didn't directly have anything to do with Williams, but it was a clear sign that the Jazz were taking their immediate future seriously before their tank was even over. That meant that anyone who needed a minute before they could prove they were a consistent NBA-caliber player was definitely on the bubble.

Look no further than the fact that they traded Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. Two youngsters with some promise, but were definitely going to need time to develop. Williams being under the same umbrella served as the first hint that the Jazz saw him as expendable.

Drafting Darryn Peterson

The Jazz had a golden opportunity to get a franchise player in the making with Peterson. Yes, he was going to take time, but Peterson's talent is sure to translate on the court immediately even if his best days were ahead of him.

That's a stark contrast from Williams, whose ceiling isn't nearly as high as a prospect and was going to take time for him to figure himself out. Going a little deeper, adding Peterson to Utah's pool of prospects was going to make it tougher for Williams to find playing time because the Jazz were likely to emphasize Peterson's and Ace Bailey's individual developments more.

Williams' poor Summer League

You probably knew this was coming. Williams did not play all that great in the Summer League, which is not a good look for a player whose first two seasons didn't exactly light the league on fire. In contrast to Peterson, who looked pretty exciting despite not always having the best performances, Williams was not looking too promising.

Summer League performances should always be taken with a grain of salt, but for Williams, playing his third round of those games was the perfect opportunity to prove he was part of the future. Looking much further behind than Peterson in such low-stakes basketball only made Williams look worse.

Signing Josh Okogie

This may have been the final nail in the coffin. Okogie isn't a star addition, but is coming off a solid campaign where he consistently contributed to the Houston Rockets. His consistency probably strongly appealed to the Jazz, as that's what they need to reach their goals this season.

Okogie is a quality perimeter defender whose three-ball looked surprisingly good last season. Williams' defense showed the most promise last season, but offensively, there was plenty of work to be done. Okogie will likely be an upgrade.

Between the Jazz getting serious, another top-notch prospect being added to the team, an underwhelming Summer League performance, and the Jazz adding someone to play the role Williams would have played all gave pretty good hints that his time as a Jazzman were up.

Even if this isn't how anyone would have wanted the Williams era to end in Utah, we should all wish the Jazz alum the best of luck moving forward!

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