At a different time, with a different roster, Collin Sexton could have been a great piece of a successful puzzle for the Utah Jazz. But as things stand, this wasn’t the right place or time for Sexton to be in Utah.
On Sunday, the Jazz agreed to trade Sexton and a 2030 second-rounder to the Charlotte Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic.
There are two main reasons for the Jazz to make this deal. One, the Jazz needed to clear the way for some of the younger players on the roster. With Keyonte George, Isaiah Collier, Ace Bailey, Walter Clayton Jr., John Tonje, Brice Sensabaugh and Cody Williams all needing some back court time, the Jazz need to open up the roster a little bit.
Yes, some of these players will have the ball in their hands more than others, some profile as more of a shooting guard and some of them will play more as a wing than a traditional guard, but the point still stands that the Jazz roster is perimeter heavy.
The second reason the Jazz do this is to get a high efficiency player who is not going to be a part of the future off the roster.
Let’s say that the Jazz’s young players all have breakout or unexpectedly impressive rookie seasons and that they all gel together to form the perfect competing machine, netting the Jazz more wins than they had planned. If that happens, the Jazz are willing to live with the consequences (losing a top-8 protected pick to OKC next year).
But, that’s not likely to happen. The more likely scenario is that the young players struggle at times and have some growing pains, as all young players do. And without a more experienced player there to pick up some of the slack (Sexton), even if the rookies and younger players perform well, they probably don’t perform well enough for the Jazz to win too many games and they keep their 2026 top-8 pick.
A lot of people might have been a bit surprised that the Jazz were the team that had to give up a future pick in the trade (the more favorable of the selection between the Jazz and L.A. Clippers’ picks in 2023). And yes, it seems counterintuitive that the team giving up the more reliable, younger player is the one adding assets to the deal. But there are a couple of things to consider.
As soon as the Jazz start dealing these more veteran players — Sexton, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson — it signals to other teams that they need to get rid of guys in order to make room for young players and fewer wins. At that point, the Jazz don’t have a lot of leverage. And, it’s getting harder and harder for undersized guards to make real impact when it comes to the late stages of the post season.
That’s not to say that Sexton isn’t valuable. He is a hardworking, determined, efficient player who is willing to do anything asked of him. But in this instance, the Jazz weren’t really operating from a position of power.
That being said, the Jazz got what they wanted out of this situation. They got a player making similar money, that balances the roster a little bit more, who probably isn’t going to impact winning.