The Utah Jazz may appear on more trade rumors as they start to think about their plans for the 2023 NBA Draft soon.

The race to the bottom of the NBA standings may not start now, former NBA forward Channing Frye said on a new episode of Legend Lounge with Trill Withers, but teams may start “submarining” closer to the All-Star break or at the end of the New Year. Teams that are “sort of winning,” like the Jazz and Washington Wizards, were “playing free” before larger trades happened later in the 2023 season that would ultimately determine their spot in the NBA Draft and beyond.

“Think about if Miles Turner ends up going to Phoenix with a three way trade or if Deandre Ayton goes to the Lakers,” Channing Frye said. “Think about those type of trades.

“So don't think, look at the middle of the pack and say ‘who really has a chance to be really good? Who's going to snatch a guy from somewhere to go for it, and who's going to blow it up?'”

Channing Frye said he played with a Phoenix Suns team that worked through great chemistry and leadership, but forced players to fight through its own uncertainties about the future and where players would end up despite their immediate success.

“(Then-Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek) was like, ‘guys, if we're not winning, you're gonna go to winning teams if we're playing good,'” Channing Frye said. “‘If we're playing really bad, we're going to have to send you in a package to a really bad team.' So everyone was like, ‘no, we don't want that.'

“So it's a plan. It's a win-win for everybody.”

The Jazz will continue to decide the fate of their season when they tip off against the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m. MST this Wednesday in Vivint Arena. The game will be broadcasted on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.