The Utah Jazz traded veteran guard Collin Sexton to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. The Jazz, who included a second-round pick in the 2030 NBA Draft, received veteran center Jusuf Nurkic in return.
Both Sexton and Nurkic are entering contract years. Making the money work was easy, with both set to make around $19 million next year.
It had been rumored that Sexton would be available in trades this offseason. Utah drafted guards Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft. The next year, they selected guard Isaiah Collier in the first round. On Wednesday, they drafted guard Walter Clayton Jr., the fourth first-round pick they've used on a guard in three drafts.
As more of their young talent approaches paydays, more experienced players like Jordan Clarkson and Sexton become natural choices for the ‘chopping block.' What type of moves could the Jazz make that involve one or two of these guards and set their core up for success?
They opted to send Sexton to the Eastern Conference for a big man. The Jazz only had incoming fourth-year center Walker Kessler and Kyle Filipowski, fresh off his rookie campaign, at center. Both players represent a balance of now and later, already able to impact winning basketball but with room to grow. Nurkic, an 11-year NBA veteran, could help both reach their potential.
The Hornets drafted 6'7″ guard Kon Knueppel with the fourth pick in Wednesday night's draft. He joined guards LaMelo Ball and recent first-round draft pick Nick Smith Jr. on the roster, making Sexton the fourth under contract next season with 24-year-old guard Tre Mann entering restricted free agency. Was this the best the Hornets could have done to replace him? Was trading Nurkic days after trading Mark Williams the right move?
Hornets get smaller, score big in Nurkic-Sexton swap
Dec 3, 2022; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton (2) drives against Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (27) in the second half at Vivint Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Swinger-Imagn Images
Jeffrey Swinger-Imagn Images
A 26-year-old guard, after the second-straight season in which he was excellent on offense, being traded away is a tough sell. Sexton averaged 18.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while making 48% of his field goals this past year. He led the Jazz in scoring for the second-straight year.
Sexton turned the ball over 2.5 times on average. But his 40.6% conversion rate on his 4.3 3-point attempts per game was a career-best.
The advanced analytics on Sexton's past two seasons indicate his offensive impact is legitimate. His Estimated Offensive Plus-Minus rating of +1.5 represented greater offensive impact than 87% of NBA players that year. His +3.0 mark in the 2023-24 season was in the 95th percentile of that season's O-EPM ratings, per Dunks and Threes.
At face value, parting ways with Nurkic is a tough but potentially necessary sacrifice to acquire a player like Sexton. His high-octane offensive capabilities could both complement Ball's playmaking well and help the team maintain its offense when Ball sits. Receiving a second-round draft selection several years down the road tilts this trade enough in the Hornets' direction to consider it a ‘success' for them on-paper.
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Sexton and Ball may struggle on defense, especially without a defensive anchor of a big supporting them. The Hornets traded both Nurkic and Williams, the two centers they had on their roster, within days of each other. This makes the team's need for a center dire. Nurkic, who just had the highest defensive-rebounding percentage of his career last year, could have been more valuable to the Hornets than other teams.
Center play, however, has typically been the most easily replaceable position in the modern era. The Hornets bet on the center play they can acquire in free agency, coupled with incoming fourth-year small-ball center Moussa Diabate, being enough for next year.
Hornets trade grade : A-
Sexton will need a new deal after his opening campaign with Charlotte. Locking in a 27-year-old Sexton for ‘the prime years' of his career is worth giving up a steady hand in Nurkic for a team like the Hornets, searching for perennial playoff appearances.
Jazz add rebounding, experience via veteran Jusuf Nurkic
Feb 22, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups talks to Charlotte Hornets center Jusuf Nurkic (11) after a game at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images
Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images
Nurkic played 51 games last season between his time with the Hornets and the Phoenix Suns. His 81st percentile Defensive-EPM of +0.8 is indicative of a ‘still got it' factor with regard to his ability to anchor a defense. His +2.5 rating on that end of the court from the season before was better than 95% of the NBA last year.
Availability is beginning to come into question with Nurkic, though. Some were part of the trade process and not representative of his health, but he missed 33 games total last season. He played 76 the year before, a nice figure, which unfortunately stands out as an outlier.
Nurkic played just 52 games in 2023 and 56 in 2022. That's after he played a combined 45 in the two years before, 2019-21, because of troubles with leg injuries. When he's on the court, though, his value is clear. He rebounded 31.8% of opposing team's misses when he was on defense, a career-best rate. That was in the 99th percentile among all NBA players in the 2025 season.
From 2019 to 2024, Nurkic's O-EPM had been in the 69th percentile or better – except for 2021, a 59th percentile output. Last season, his -1.9 O-EPM rating was in the 31st percentile that year. Especially after trading Sexton, the Jazz don't have a playmaker on the level of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, or LaMelo Ball yet. Will they be able to scheme an offense that facilitates a bounce back season?
Jazz trade grade: C-
Head coach Will Hardy prioritizes the optimization of his talent. Will the team's young guards have developed enough to allow the addition of Nurkic to pay dividends? Or will the Bosnian big man's contributions be unfortunately overlooked as the team's offense has a Sexton-sized hole in it?
Whether or not Nurkic is a key contributor in Utah, it feels like they could have gotten more for Sexton. Was being so set on trading him even the right way to handle his pending free agency? If the team is interested in starting to win some games, the dynamo scoring guard now on the Hornets may have been able to help.