4 Key Traits Needed If Jazz Become Buyers This Offseason

That didn’t take long. A little over a week into the NBA Playoffs, we already have speculation about which star-level players could hit the trade market this summer. Locked and loaded with picks, talented young players, and easy-to-match salaries, the Jazz look primed to, in Danny Ainge’s words, go "Big Game Hunting." So what sort of things could the Jazz be looking for? Let’s try to sort through it.

In his end-of-year press conference, Danny Ainge said that the Jazz aren’t looking to bring any fossils. They aren’t going to follow the Phoenix Suns blueprint and mortgage their future for a short window. The Jazz want to build a team that can compete for the foreseeable future. The Boston Celtics is the model that the Jazz seem likely to try to emulate for obvious reasons.

So, who might they target? I’d look for guys whose timeline syncs up with 26-year-old Lauri Markkanen. This means guys who are about to hit the prime of their careers and can be fixtures for this team for the next 5+ years.

It would be versatile if I had to sum up postseason basketball in one word. It’s so hard to mask your deficiencies in the playoffs, and successful teams can win in many different ways and have answers to all the different styles an opponent throws at them. With the ultimate team-building goal for the Jazz being the Larry O’Brien Trophy, it makes sense that they’ll look to add guys who lack fatal flaws in their game.

Some of these qualities the team is looking for have already been laid out: positional size, toughness, basketball IQ, & two-way ability. So, while I wouldn’t completely rule out some of the more prominent names on the market, I believe the Jazz will be patient with the players they look to add. With the team seemingly always having a giant hole on the wings, expect the Jazz to sniff around possible players who could check these boxes and boost the Jazz going forward.

This is only the second full offseason the Jazz have had since hitting the reset button on the franchise. Because of that, the roster isn’t ready to go all-in on a singular player. While they can certainly add pieces that will help them in both the short and long term, it’s probably too early to burn your most valuable assets.

The Jazz have been methodical about extracting assets from each transaction. The John Collins trade from a year ago was an example of buying low on an asset they thought could rehab his value. Similarly, Collin Sexton was someone the Jazz signed to a long-term deal in the Donovan Mitchell trade despite missing most of the previous season. If the Jazz have another opportunity to acquire a player for less than they believe he’s ultimately worth, I expect them to be aggressive in doing so.

This is somewhat of an obvious one, but unfortunately, in the NBA, both teams have to agree to make a trade happen. The Jazz can hope that Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, or any other superstar hits the trade market this summer, but it remains unlikely. 

The Jazz are exceptionally well-positioned to pounce on whatever trade presents itself this summer. We’ll just have to wait and see who that will be.

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