Utah Jazz Mailbag: Will Tanking Continue Into Next Year?
Mar 11, 2025, 2:30 PM | Updated: Mar 12, 2025, 1:14 pm
BYU basketball signee AJ Dybantsa will reportedly face Villanova in Las Vegas in his debut. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Welcome to the Utah Jazz mailbag where this week we look at how likely the team is to tank again in the 2025-26 season.
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: Will Tank Continue Into Next Year?
I’ve seen other Jazz reporters indicate that Utah is just barely beginning to tank. Having watched every game this year, I don’t know how much tanking I can stomach going forward. Your thoughts?
— Garth Gagnier (@grrr22.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Question: I’ve seen other Jazz reporters indicate that Utah is just barely beginning to tank. Having watched every game this year, I don’t know how much tanking I can stomach going forward. Your thoughts?
Answer: Echoing a report from the Deseret News’s Sarah Todd, I too have heard rumblings that the patience of the Jazz’s front office stretches beyond this season and that the deconstruction of the roster could easily bleed into next year, leading to another campaign of heavy losses.
With a likely top-five pick landing in Utah this summer, a roster full of young players in need of development, a stacked 2026 NBA Draft, and the Jazz owing their first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it falls outside of the top-eight selections, there are plenty of reasons to treat next season as a developmental year.
However, I think it’s important to recognize how often teams across the NBA buck their preseason expectations.
The obvious example is the Dallas Mavericks who after making the Finals last year, shocked everyone in the league by trading superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a first-round draft pick.
But Dallas is far from the only team.
FROM SHAMS:
BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Three-team deal that includes Utah.
— Shams Charania Tweets (& Other NBA News) (@shamsbot.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Last season the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers faced the fifth-seeded Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Those teams might meet again in the first round of this year’s playoffs, only with the Cavaliers owning the top seed, and the Magic sitting in eighth.
Behind a coaching change, and the development of fourth-year forward Evan Mobley, the Cavaliers are in contention for the best record in the NBA.
On the flipside, the Magic have been undone by a slew of injuries, and bad investments in free agency.
Neither team is matching their preseason expectation.
Last season the Minnesota Timberwolves made it to the conference finals in the West, defeating the Phoenix Suns and the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in the process.
But who knew their game-five elimination by the Mavericks would be the last time Karl-Anthony Towns, their second-best player, would ever suit up in Minnesota?
Speaking of the Suns, they made the NBA Finals in 2021.
Two years later, they gutted their roster to acquire Kevin Durant, before doubling down on Bradley Beal a year later.
Now, they’re one of the NBA’s laughingstocks and may need to blow up their roster to salvage some sense of a future.
And don’t get me started on the Philadelphia 76ers.
But even former lottery teams can make unexpected climbs in the standings.
Last season the Detroit Pistons had the worst record in the NBA. Now 11 months later they’re one game out of hosting a first-round playoff series.
i heard we’re the 6th seed
— Detroit Pistons (@thepistons.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Houston Rockets and the Memphis Grizzlies both missed the playoffs last year, this season they’re poised to meet in the 4-5 matchup in the postseason.
So what’s my point?
The league can shift violently, and far more quickly than we realize, and for a litany of different reasons.
Related: Jazz Mailbag – What Has Team Said About Tanking
Player unhappiness, player growth, player regression, ownership changes, injuries, financial restrictions, trade demands, draft steals, draft busts, expiring contracts, previous trades, future trades, free agency, and family issues can all dramatically change a team’s fortune.
Those things happen quickly, they happen constantly, and no team is immune to them, even the Jazz.
At this point last year, the narrative around the Jazz was that Keyonte George had All-Star potential, and Walker Kessler’s future in Utah was in serious doubt.
25 REBOUNDS.
8 BLOCKS.
OMG.Despite the loss, Walker Kessler had an INSANE game.
— The Athletic (@theathletic.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Just 12 months later, Kessler looks like the only surefire young player on the roster, while George is backing up rookie Isaiah Collier.
Recently, I had a conversation with a person who has inside knowledge of the Jazz’s approach to the rebuild, and they told me that landing Cooper Flagg “changes everything.”
Flagg is expected to be a franchise player in the NBA that will elevate a team’s ceiling, potentially with a championship upside.
If the Jazz win the lottery and select Flagg, do they suddenly become a more attractive destination for players wanting a change of scenery?
Nikola Jokic, a former second-round pick is the greatest player in the world, but is anyone taking a pay cut to win a championship in Denver?
We’ve never seen a superstar of his caliber selected in the second round, we’ve also never seen such a good player fail to attract talent to his roster. Both previously would have been unimaginable.
LeBron James was the greatest prospect in NBA history and lived up to the billing in his rookie season, yet Carlos Boozer, his best young teammate, left Cleveland to sign with the Jazz 12 months after James was drafted, choosing money over the chance to win an NBA title.
Regarding Flagg, the league is littered with can’t-miss prospects who did in fact, miss.
The 76ers traded the number three overall pick (Jayson Tatum) to move up to draft can’t-miss prospect Markelle Fultz.
Fultz has played nine games this season for the Sacramento Kings, his third organization, while Tatum is the best player on the reigning champion Celtics.
Markelle Fultz with the hammer in his Sacramento Kings debut.
— Matt George (@mattgeorgesac.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
The New Orleans Pelicans appear to be showcasing former number-one overall pick Zion Williamson for a potential trade this summer.
Victor Wembanyama might be even better than advertised. I hope these blood clots are an isolated incident.
Donovan Mitchell was the 13th pick in 2017. He immediately averaged 20 points per game and helped lead the Jazz to the playoffs, something few expected after losing Gordon Hayward that summer.
To reiterate, there is plenty of evidence that the Jazz are going to have another 60-loss season next year, regardless of where they land in this year’s draft.
However, the NBA changes in unpredictable ways year-to-year, if not month-to-month.
The Jazz likely have a loose game plan for how to finish this rebuild, but they’d be foolish to think they can predict the future.
Want to ask questions in next week’s Jazz mailbag? Give us a follow at @kslsports.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports, the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone, and the author of the Jazz Mailbag. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.
