Why Did Jazz Trade Three First Round Picks For One Suns Pick?
Jan 21, 2025, 6:52 PM | Updated: 6:54 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - NOVEMBER 12: Cody Williams #5 of the Utah Jazz drives into Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup game at Delta Center on November 12, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz pulled off their first trade of the season on Tuesday, sending three first-round picks in 2025, 2027, and 2029, for one pick from the Phoenix Suns in 2031.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the trade on social media.
“The Phoenix Suns are trading their 2031 unprotected first to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, sources tell ESPN,” Charania wrote. “The Suns are acquiring the least favorable firsts in 2025 of Cleveland/Minnesota, 2027 of Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah and 2029 of Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah.”
Why Did Jazz Trade Three Firsts For One Suns Draft Pick?
The Jazz’s decision to trade three first-round picks to Phoenix for a single selection in 2031 is based largely on the projected value of the selections.
After making blockbuster trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2022, the Jazz own those teams’ first-round picks in 2025, 2027, and 2029.
The Jazz also own their selections in those drafts, giving them three first-round picks in those three drafts.
The Phoenix Suns are trading their 2031 unprotected first to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, sources tell ESPN. The Suns are acquiring the least favorable firsts in 2025 of Cleveland/Minnesota, 2027 of Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah and 2029 of Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 22, 2025
In Tuesday’s trade, the Jazz agreed to send Phoenix the least valuable of those picks in 2025, 2027, and 2029 in exchange for a fully unprotected first-round pick from the Suns in 2031.
To simplify the reasoning, the Jazz are betting that the Suns 2031 first-round pick will have more value than the combined total of the three firsts they gave up.
Did The Jazz Make A Good Trade With The Suns?
Beginning with this year’s draft, the pick the Jazz will send the Suns will almost certainly come from the Cavaliers, and at this moment, is projected to be the 30th and final pick of the first round.
The Cavaliers own the best record in the NBA, and barring a major collapse, will likely finish with one of the top two overall seeds entering the playoffs.
That means that the 2025 selection the Jazz are sending the Suns will be either the 29th or 30th overall pick, and holds relatively low value.
An updated look at the @utahjazz‘s future draft assets after today’s three-for-draft draft swap. #TakeNote https://t.co/FCy7v4zvez
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 22, 2025
The Jazz also appear to be betting that at least one of the Cavaliers and Timberwolves will be competitive in the 2026-27 season, yielding another late first-round pick in the process.
With Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen under contract in Cleveland through the summer of 2028, it’s unlikely the Cavaliers would have cratered in 2027, sending the Jazz a first-round pick with significant value.
In 2029, the value of the Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Jazz picks is far murkier. All three teams will likely have entirely new rosters, so speculating on where the least valuable selection of the three will land is a fool’s errand.
However, with the Jazz sending the Suns the least valuable of those three picks, it’s once again unlikely they’ll have given up a potential lottery selection in the trade.
Will The Suns Be Good In 2031?
Having acquired the Suns 2031 unprotected first-round pick, it’s worth asking whether or not Phoenix will be good that far into the future.
With the high turnover rate of rosters in the NBA, there is simply no way to know where that pick will land six years from now, but there’s reason to believe it may have value.
The Suns own the second-oldest roster in the NBA this season with an average age of 28.26, which means they’re ripe for a major overhaul in the coming seasons.
To make matters worse in Phoenix, Kevin Durant, their best player, is 36 years old and will certainly be out of the league by the time the Suns pick conveys to the Jazz.
NBA STANDINGS UPDATE ‼️
▪️ CLE gets NBA-leading 36th W
▪️ BOS is 3rd team to reach 30 wins
▪️ MEM wins 3rd straight, 0.5 GB from #2 HOUDownload the NBA App for more: https://t.co/pBKIAWOrdI pic.twitter.com/v9eJp69OWL
— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2025
That’s all music to the Jazz front office’s ears.
Now, here’s where the Suns’ future gets particularly troubling.
After making trades for Durant and Bradley Beal over the last 24 months, the Suns have no control of their own first-round picks before 2031, which now belongs to the Jazz.
That means that when the Suns face a situation where they must rebuild their roster, they can’t do so via their draft picks.
Phoenix will have to rebuild using only the late first-round picks they acquired from the Jazz in Tuesday’s trade, or by adding additional draft capital in trades using existing players.
Essentially, the Suns have mortgaged their future to have a winning team now, but the time will come to pay the piper.
Why Else Did Jazz Make This Trade?
With seven players on the roster under the age of 23, the Jazz didn’t need to add three more rookies to the roster in the 2025 draft.
The Jazz appear to have found NBA value outside of the lottery in Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, and Kyle Filipowksi and didn’t need to add another non-lottery pick to the mix with little room to develop them.
There’s some hidden value in this trade that if it helps the @Suns get better this year, they could leap the @Timberwolves in the standings, potentially pushing them out of the playoffs, which would give the @utahjazz another lottery pick this season.
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) January 22, 2025
Furthermore, with second-year forward Taylor Hendricks missing nearly all of the 2024-25 season, he’ll enter next year as another developmental project that the Jazz weren’t expecting when this season began.
Trimming one more draft pick off the docket eases the burden on the Jazz to develop more players than they have room for on the roster.
Finally, there’s a high likelihood the Jazz never make this selection for the Suns, and choose instead to use it in a trade of their own.
Future unprotected first-round picks are highly sought-after commodities, and the Jazz can now trade one, without giving up their own pick.
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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.
