SALT LAKE CITY – Welcome to the Utah Jazz mailbag, where this week we explore opportunities to trade up in the draft.
Each week, we will send out a prompt on X and BlueSky asking for the questions you have about the Jazz.
Then, we’ll respond in that week’s Jazz mailbag.
Jazz Mailbag: Should Jazz Trade Up In The Draft?
Is there any word on if the Jazz are trying to move up from 5 or 21?
— Holly Hardy (@hallsrh) May 20, 2025
Question: Is there any word on if the Jazz are trying to move up from 5 or 21?
Answer: Even before the Jazz learned where their highest pick would be in the draft, there were reports that the organization would explore options to move up if they fell in the lottery.
In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that even if the Jazz didn’t land the top pick, they’d look to acquire it using their deep war chest of draft picks.
“Even if they don’t get the number one pick, they’re going to be trying to go for it,” Charania said.
Good article from @CHoltSports who lays out the most likely two options for the @utahjazz now…
Try to build a competitive roster through the trade market, or lean fully into the youth movement. #takenote https://t.co/U94YZjls34
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) May 13, 2025
Unfortunately for the Jazz, the top overall pick fell into the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, who seem cemented into taking Cooper Flagg with the first selection, ending that discussion before it really began.
In ESPN’s latest mock draft, writer Jonathan Givony reported that “some teams expect the Sixers to be active in trade conversations, with names such as Kevin Durant (Phoenix) and Lauri Markkanen (Utah) as potential targets in packages that could include Paul George and the No. 3 pick.”
The Jazz were rumored to have pursued George last season during their big game hunting era, in hopes of pairing him with a star like Mikal Bridges, but the All-Star forward signed with the 76ers, leaving Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik empty-handed.
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Since their reported pursuit, George’s reputation has transformed from the league’s top free agent target to an aging, oft-injured former star who owns one of the least attractive contracts in the NBA.
For reference, George, who turned 35 earlier this month, has three years and over $160 million on his deal.
Now, in a vacuum, George is a better player than Markkanen, and picking third is better than picking fifth.
From that perspective, this would be a good trade for the Jazz if they were trying to win next season and wanted to add a player with George’s playoff experience to the roster.
However, George, by himself, does not transform the Jazz into a playoff team, much less a title-contender, and does nothing to close the age-gap issue with Utah’s existing roster.
In last week’s Jazz Mailbag, we looked at whether Markkanen still fits the team’s timeline as a 28-year-old entering year one of a contract extension.
The @utahjazz mailbag: After falling to five in the lottery, has the window closed to build around Lauri Markkanen?#TakeNote https://t.co/YbOTnHPnAi
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 16, 2025
George only further complicates those issues, and would be a threat to have less buy-in with the Jazz than the overtly loyal Markkanen.
Related: Markkanen Says He Loves Being In Utah
But, it is worth noting that George and Markkanen are only half of the equation in this trade rumor.
In addition to George, the Jazz would move up from the fifth pick in the draft to third, giving them the option to select whoever they’d like outside of the presumed top two picks Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper.
If the Jazz felt there was a monumental gap between selecting Rutgers Ace Bailey at third and Texas’s Tre Johnson at fifth, which they may, there could be value in this speculation.
Tre Johnson is one of the top names tied to the @utahjazz in the 2025 NBA Draft.
How would the sharpshooting guard fit with the roster?#TakeNote https://t.co/8ounO4EWVU
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 14, 2025
Here’s the problem: With five weeks until the draft, there is still tremendous uncertainty about how the draft board will fall. While the Jazz may favor Bailey’s high upside, the 76ers could prefer perceived safer picks in VJ Edgecombe or Kon Knueppel.
At that point, the Jazz should be hesitant to pay too high a price to move up two spots for a player who may be on the board anyway when they are on the clock.
Additionally, if the Jazz are willing to trade the fifth overall pick and Markkanen, is George and the third pick the best they could do?
Would the San Antonio Spurs take a win-now player in Markkanen and the fifth pick for the second overall selection and matching salaries if Giannis Antetokounmp is off the table?
In this scenario, the Jazz would get a more highly valued draft asset while maintaining roster flexibility for the coming seasons.
Similarly, if the 76ers find themselves settled on a player they want to select in the draft, and know he would still be on the board with the fifth pick, would they trade back for the Jazz’s fifth, 21st, 43rd, and 53rd picks?
It’s not an enormous value for Philadelphia, but it’s an additional first and two second-round picks to select the player they like at a lower salary slot.
Ultimately, it’s safe to assume the Jazz will explore every option they have to improve the roster by moving up in the draft, whether that’s from fifth to second or 21st to the teens, but they shouldn’t feel rushed to overpay just because the lottery balls didn’t fall their way.
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Ben Anderson is the author of the Jazz Mailbag, a 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.