Utah Jazz Mailbag: How Does 2025 Draft Impact Current Youth?
Feb 11, 2025, 1:00 PM
Cooper Flagg #2 of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Welcome to the Utah Jazz mailbag where this week we look at what the 2025 draft might mean for the youth already on the team’s roster.
Each week we will send out a prompt on X and BlueSky asking for the questions you have about the Jazz.
Then, we’ll respond to as many as we can in that week’s Jazz mailbag.
Jazz Mailbag: How Will Draft Affect Current Jazz Youth?
Do you see the Jazz making a decision on some of the young players before the draft or in the off season and making a consolidation trade?
— Utah Jazz Optimist (@thegreatbambis) February 10, 2025
Question: Do you see the Jazz making a decision on some of the young players before the draft or in the off-season and making a consolidation trade?
Answer: The Jazz will be in an advantageous spot this offseason as they will know their draft position long before they have to make any decisions on their young players.
The draft lottery will be held on May 12, giving the Jazz more than a month before the draft to prepare their team-building strategy.
In theory, the draft shouldn’t alter the Jazz’s thinking all that much when it comes to how they view the current young players.
The NBA G League Combine, NBA Draft Combine and NBA Draft Lottery will take place in May in Chicago.
The schedule of pre-draft events ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/x54NOMHi4a
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 13, 2025
The players they view as being a part of the long-term future should stick around, and the ones they don’t think are a fit should be available for trade if the right offer is on the table, regardless of where they land in the lottery.
One of the more difficult aspects of analyzing player development is the speed at which the trajectory can change when a player is put in the right place to succeed.
For example, Lauri Markkanen didn’t become an All-Star player until he became a number one option on a team playing alongside two good facilitators in Mike Conley and Kelly Olynyk.
Related: How Did Jazz Perform At 2025 NBA Trade Deadline?
Before playing with those two, he didn’t operate at an All-Star level, after losing them in Utah, he’s again seen his production dip.
So, who’s to say any one of the Jazz’s young players isn’t one teammate away from finding their ideal role in the NBA and taking a major leap in their production?
The @utahjazz draft asset tracker after the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline.
#TakeNote https://t.co/FCy7v4zvez— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 7, 2025
Furthermore, the Jazz would be wise to wait and see how the draft falls before making any major decisions regarding their roster.
In the best-case scenario, the Jazz will land Cooper Flagg in this year’s draft, he’ll slide in as a starter at one of the team’s forward spots, and the team can see how he fits on their current roster without making any rash decisions.
More realistically, based on the NBA’s lottery system, the Jazz are likely to be selecting between Dylan Harper Jr., Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecome, and Kasparas Jakuscions, at which point fit in the Jazz’s crowded backcourt (Bailey excluded) might come into play.
Luckily for the Jazz, there shouldn’t be any urgency to sell on their players unless they feel they’ve gathered enough information to accurately forecast their future.
Outside of Walker Kessler who has proven this season that he’s a keeper, the Jazz don’t need to start thinking about the second contracts for any of their current first and second-year players until the summer of 2026, and even then, they can let Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George, and Brice Sensabaugh hit the free agent market in 2027 as restricted free agents before feeling any real pressure.
Ultimately, while I wouldn’t rule out the potential for a trade involving the Jazz’s young players this summer, they shouldn’t feel pressured to make any specific move, regardless of what happens in the draft.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.
