Meet the Utah JJJazz
Plus: the Celtics get a more experienced big man, the Pistons make some tweaks and the Wolves set up for something potentially huge.
Plus: the Celtics get a more experienced big man, the Pistons make some tweaks and the Wolves set up for something potentially huge.
Good morning. We are a little more than a day away from the trade deadline. Let's basketball.
The Utah Jazz, clearly trying to surgically tank to retain their 2026 lottery pick (protected top 8, otherwise due to the Thunder because of an old Derrick Favors salary dump), made a quick pivot on Wednesday, trading draft equity to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Jaren Jackson Jr. This is a quasi-blockbuster: neither team is competing at a high level right now, and JJJ is a bit removed from Defensive Player of the Year and All-Star status. But it's a massive swing for both teams: Memphis is ready to rebuild (again) and Utah is (almost) ready to climb out of their rebuild. It's a mutually beneficial head-turner.
JJJ is the main event, but a bunch of players are involved here: Memphis is getting Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks and veterans Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang, along with the Lakers' 2027 first, likely Utah's own 2027 pick (it could be another team's pick if the Jazz get awesome fast) and the Suns' 2031 pick. That's some real draft equity for the Grizzlies: Utah is betting on a quick rise so it's not handing a lottery pick over next year, and Phoenix's 2031 pick is just far out enough to be intriguing. Add this to the Desmond Bane trade haul, and Memphis is collecting a lot of draft equity from the back half of this decade.
In addition to JJJ, the Jazz are getting Jock Landale, Jon Konchar and Vince Williams Jr., all of whom will get playing time as one assumes Utah will continue to strategically rest their best players to stay among the bottom seven or eight teams. That might be the biggest risk of this deal, that not only do the Jazz give up their 2027 pick but end up losing their 2026 pick by winning too many games down the stretch here. But then again, Utah has dug out a nice spot for itself. There are five teams below them in the standings, but the gap between the Jazz and teams better than it is mostly growing. The Blazers and Mavericks are on losing streaks but the former is gunning for the play-in and the latter is straight-up competitive almost every night. The Bucks are in a death spiral but have a 4.5-game margin on Utah. The biggest risk right now is actually the Grizzlies, who have the same record as the Bucks but have obviously thrown in the towel on a play-in chase.
This is all to say that if the Jazz continue their existing strategy of selectively resting key players like Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George and now Jackson, the pick should be safe. And then, given that they have painted themselves into a path by trading their 2027 pick in this deal, it's full speed ahead going forward. A frontline of Markkanen, JJJ and Walker Kessler, who will be a restricted free agent returning from injury this summer, is imposing, but Jackson's arrival also makes Kessler expendable if there's a sign-and-trade to be done or the price isn't right. George has made remarkable strides this season, and while Ace Bailey has a steep learning curve, there's lots of potential in there. Given what we've seen in the West, Utah feels like a totally credible play-in contender next year. What happens from there depends on how well it all meshes and the development of Bailey, the 2026 pick and some of the other younger talent (including George and picks resulting from the rest of Utah's draft equity stash) on the roster now and beyond.
For Memphis, all eyes are (still) on Ja Morant. One has to presume that the Grizzlies will move on as soon as practicable. But is that now or in the summer?
More Trades
We'll unwind the rest of the action over the coming days. But here are the big deals that happened Tuesday.
The James Harden-Darius Garland deal actually happened. And Cleveland gave L.A. a second in the swap! Either we collectively underrate James Harden compared to NBA decision-makers or Garland's feet are made of glass. I wrote about the specter of this deal on Tuesday; my points stand.
The Celtics traded Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vucevic. Voochi Mane is an imperfect player, for sure, but there may be no better fit than in Boston, where his three-point volume and defensive rebounding will fit right in. (The rim protection is going to be a problem whenever the Celtics are ready to contend for titles again, whether it be this spring or next.) Paul Flannery has a good take on what this means for Boston. As for what this means for Chicago? It's Jalen Smith time!
The Timberwolves are preparing for something big. The Wolves, Bulls and Pistons did a little deal that helps Detroit set up for their postseason run and offseason (RFA-to-be Jaden Ivey out, Kevin Huerter and Dario Saric in) and gives Chicago get another interesting young guard (Ivey) on a roster full of them. I'm laser focused on the Wolves, though, who traded Mike Conley for nothin' to free up a roster spot, get under the first apron (huge) and drop their tax bill significantly. THE WOLVES ARE BIG GAME HUNTING. All eyes on Giannis Antetokounmpo. My only question is whether there's a back-up plan if the Bucks sit tight or move the Greek God somewhere else. Consider me intrigued.
Scores
Nuggets 121, Pistons 124 – Excellent resilience from Detroit as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were coming at their necks down the stretch, but the Pistons held on. This team is on pace for 62 wins! That's no small thing: even the Nuggets haven't won 60 games in a season during this era.
Speaking of coming for necks, Jonas Valanciunas put Isaiah Stewart in a headlock for some reason? Chaos ensued.
Notably, Beef Stew did not get involved in the chaos. He merely walked away with a smile while Jalen Duren and friends expressed their displeasure.
Jazz 131, Pacers 122 – Hmm, two teams near the bottom of the standings, aiming for high draft picks. One traded half of its team. What's the other team going to do?
Ah.
Please note that this is only the second game Pascal Siakam has missed all season. The Pacers' tank job has been ethical ... to this point. We are monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, I did not realize that Isaiah Collier was a 22-assist kind of dude. He played all 48 minutes due to the Jazz's roster limitations, but still. Twenty-two assists is a lot!
Knicks 132, Wizards 101 – Amid a big winning streak (now seven games long), the Knicks are 14-11 since winning the NBA Cup. Perhaps the curse is over.
Lakers 125, Nets 109 – Austin Reaves is back! He had 15 in 21 minutes off the bench. We've seen star players come off the bench for extended periods of time when returning from injury this season – Victor Wembanyama was the first best example – so I wonder how long J.J. Redick will milk this opportunity. There's an argument to be made that either Reaves or LeBron should be a permanent reserve to spread the offensive firepower a little more.
Celtics 110, Mavericks 100 – Cooper Flagg is absolutely incredible. Going toe-to-toe with an All-NBA foe at this age is special.
My take is that Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving are on too different a timeline to make sense beyond another year or so in Dallas. But Flagg is close enough to being ready for high-level competition that the inevitable Davis and Irving trades should bring back readymade talent, not draft picks.
Bulls 115, Bucks 131 – Milwaukee picks up its first win since Antetokounmpo's latest injury because ... Chicago was missing half its roster after Wednesday's trades.
Magic 92, Thunder 128 – Let he who has not been smoked by 36 by the Thunder cast the first stone, but sheesh, Orlando is a bit of a mess. Franz Wagner has still not played since Berlin and London. Can we get an investigation into whether he pressured himself or the NBA pressured him to play in the NBA Europe games before he was ready? Because for those to be the only two games a German player appears in for two months is weird.
Desmond Bane got another flagrant, but this one was comparatively mild.
Sixers 113, Warriors 94 – V.J. Edgecombe is going to finish third in Rookie of the Year, and he would definitely win it outright most years. I can't recall a more electric three rookies at the top.
Steph Curry sat. You can tell the Warriors either aren't going to trade Draymond Green or don't expect to get value for him because they let him play with Curry out. And every time Green plays with Curry out, you get a line like "6-7-3 on 2/7 shooting, -27 in 25 minutes." Buyer beware.
Suns 130, Blazers 125 – I don't speak Pennsylvania, so I need some help here. Collin Gillespie grew up in Warminster, which is 13 miles north of Philadelphia. Then he spent five years at Villanova. Is Collin Gillespie a Philly kid? Out here on the West Coast, if you grew up in a suburb 13 miles from a major city (with a couple of exceptions) and then went to school at one of the signature colleges in that city, we'd say you're from that city. Hell, in some cases, you can grow up well outside city limits and go to college in the same time zone and you'll still get credit. (See: Leonard, Kawhi and George, Paul.) But I know cities on the East Coast are all 30 minutes from each other, and people in Pennsylvania are very particular about their geographies. So tell me, is Collin Gillespie from Philadelphia?
Anyways, Collin Gillespie had 30 points. What a season he's having.
Schedule
All times Eastern.
Nuggets at Knicks, 7, ESPN
Timberwolves at Raptors, 7:30
Celtics at Rockets, 8
Pelicans at Bucks, 8
Thunder at Spurs, 9:30, ESPN
Grizzlies at Kings, 10
Cavaliers at Clippers, 10:30
Be excellent to each other.
