The Utah Jazz should have been full-time sellers last season, especially after they traded their All-Star tandem of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell during the 2022 offseason. But a lucky stretch of games that saw them start 10-3 in the regular season masked what they should have been doing — tanking for more ping-pong balls in May. That promising beginning to the 2022-23 season gave the Jazz the illusion that they could be a playoff team when in reality they should have been in the thick of the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
As a result, the Jazz waited too long to cash in all of their tradable players who could have netted a ton of other assets from true playoff or contending teams. Alas, a new season is about to commence and the Jazz should be smart enough to fully commit to a direction as a franchise. As currently constructed, this Jazz team isn't a prime tank candidate yet because it still has valuable winning contributors on its roster.
With that said, Utah should clean house ahead of the start of the 2023-24 regular season so it can fully embark on a rebuild. Here are three potential trade candidates for the Utah Jazz as training camp approaches.
1. Lauri Markkanen
Another person who could potentially minimize Utah's tank job is Lauri Markkanen. I get it. Markkanen is the Jazz's best player right now. But he is also going to continue racking up wins for Utah throughout the season.
Markkanen turned in the best year of his career in his first season in Salt Lake City. The 7-foot forward averaged 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from beyond the arc.
At 26 years old, Markkanen could just be about to enter his prime. He likely won't be the perfect man to orchestrate a tank job given his ability to win several basketball games for this ball club. In fact, that's exactly what he did for the Jazz last season, when they should have been already losing games in the first place.
Nonetheless, the Jazz can right this wrong by looking to find a landing spot for Markkanen. As great as he was last season, the Finnish star isn't going to be the long-term star for Utah. As such, they should just kickstart the rebuild by trading away their best player and maximizing the assets they can get for him.
2. Collin Sexton
Collin Sexton is a prime trade candidate for the Utah Jazz ahead of training camp.
Sexton played just 48 games last season due to a nagging hamstring injury. But when healthy, he is still someone who can light up the box score. Prior to suffering a torn ACL in his fourth season, Sexton was developing into an efficient and lights-out scorer with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He increased his scoring average by around four points per game in each of his first three seasons — from 16.7 PPG in his rookie campaign, to 20.8 PPG in Year 2, to 24.3 PPG in Year 3.
Though Sexton has lost a little bit of his luster over the last couple of years — a major part of it due to injuries — playoff hopefuls could still use a guy like him as a spark plug. The Jazz guard is still just 24 years old, but it seems like his best long-term role in the NBA will be as a microwave scorer off the bench, similar to his teammate Jordan Clarkson.
The Jazz could probably trade Sexton to a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Orlando Magic — a couple of young up-and-coming teams which seem primed to take the next step. The 6-foot-1 guard may not start on these teams, but play a featured role off their bench yet still fit within their respective timelines.
3. Kelly Olynyk
A veteran the Jazz could cash in on is Kelly Olynyk. Contending teams could use a rock solid veteran big man like Olynyk, who turned in a career year for the Jazz this past season. The Canadian started all of his 68 appearances last year and averaged career highs in points (12.5) and assists (3.7) while shooting 49.9 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from beyond the arc.
No offense to Olynyk, though, but he doesn't have any business starting all of his games for a Jazz team that should be rebuilding. Instead, the 32-year-old should be playing a lesser, but still significant role on a championship team who could really use his skillset and basketball IQ to help win games and playoff series. Olynyk has shown that he can contribute for good playoff teams — much like he did with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.
As a career 36.8 percent shooting from long distance, he brings value as a floor spacer. He could also function as a hub on the offensive side of the floor with his ability to facilitate and find cutters to the basket around the high post.
Several championship hopefuls should be in line to acquire Danny Ainge about Kelly Olynyk's availability.
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