The Utah Jazz want to build their next playoff contender the right way. Right now, it feels like the best way to do that is through the draft, and why wouldn't it be? This draft class will be so loaded with talent that it may not matter if the Jazz miss out on Cooper Flagg.
The elephant in the room is that they've got an All-Star-caliber player in Lauri Markkanen on the team right now. Not only is he one of more unique star big men in the league, but he loves Utah and has shown no indication that he would want out.
The Jazz could trade him, but there's no guarantee that any of the players they find in the lottery will be as good as him. Tanking will help their chances with that, but it's not a given. So the Jazz really have to think about if their best move long-term is selling high on Markkanen while they still can or keeping him as a means of building a winner around him.
If they decide to do the latter, they should know that as good as Markkanen is, at his peak, he is not the No. 1 guy on a title team but more likely the second or third-in-command. So, they would have to decide who the No. 1 guy is to pair Markkanen with.
With all of that out there, Bleacher Report's Dan Favale floated the Jazz as a "Surprise Landing Spot" for a player whose name will surely divide Jazz fans right down the middle if he was ever brought up as a target: Zion Williamson.
Favale explained why the Jazz would entertain going after Williamson before the deadline passes.
"Absent a tentpole of the future already in place, the Utah Jazz could decide to roll the dice on Zion's health and upside and absurdly good fit with Lauri Markkanen. He shouldn't impact this year's lottery odds much, if at all, and the chance to bag someone boasting his conceptual peak without including elite draft picks is arguably can't-miss.
"That's especially true when you have first-rounders to spare. The Jazz have those in ample supply even after their three-for-one trade with the Phoenix Suns, along with digestible matching salary to send New Orleans' way."
For the record, this likely isn't something the Jazz would do before the trade deadline. Their season is already over, so it would be counter-productive to suddenly change course when the playoffs are already out of the question.
But if they had this opportunity around, say, the NBA Draft, that's a whole different story.
That would be the most epic roll of the dice in Jazz history
The Jazz's plans would be reversed if they did this because a trade like this would raise their ceiling significantly. If he were on the team, they would signal that they're not trying to tank and intend to aim for the playoffs in the future.
A couple of facts about Zion Williamson.
1. He came in to the NBA hyped as a superstar in the making. When he's taken the floor, he's proven himself to be absolutely capable of taking over a game by himself. Look at how he did when the Pelicans and Lakers faced off in the play-in last year.
No one was wrong about his talent. There's just a problem.
2. He is perhaps the least bang-for-your-buck franchise player in the NBA. For as good as he is, Williamson is not dependable. His unavailability for the Pelicans this season (as well as prior seasons) has undoubtedly played a role in why they've gone up against the Jazz in two rounds of Tankapaloozathis season.
The talent is undeniable, but so are the health questions. There have also been questions about whether Zion is truly motivated to stay in NBA shape. The Pelicans have had their stretches with Zion, when they looked hard to beat, but those were flashes in the pan.
So, would the Jazz want to make this their problem? If the Pelicans made Williamson available, the Jazz would have the assets and the contracts to acquire him without sacrificing too much of their current core.
The Jazz helped Markkanen find his place in the NBA after years of showing signs of the player he could be, but never quite putting it together. Sounds a lot like Zion in a sense, only to a lesser degree given their talent levels.
If the Jazz got Zion to reach the level many he believed he could when he first joined the NBA, that would vault the Jazz up much higher, especially if they surround him with the likes of Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton. He could be their guy, and they would have a good core around him.
That could be the foundation of Utah's next playoff team and could feasibly be built into something special. Still, it would all be hypothetical because Williamson's evolving into a franchise player has never become a reality.
The potential of a core like this with Zion is sky-high, but so are the chances of them falling well short of expectation. Williamson could be better than anyone who's coming out of this draft or even the next several drafts, but his status of "could be" as a franchise cornerstone is what makes something like this a chance no one would blame Utah if they didn't take.