Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are likely the most surprising team of the year. Like the Pacers, they lost their franchise player, but a little differently.
Gordon Hayward left the Utah Jazz in free agency this offseason and signed with the Boston Celtics. Hayward leaving the Jazz was compared to a LeBron James leaving Cleveland the first time. Many people thought the Jazz were done for and had no shot at making the playoffs this season.
Little did they know, in last summers’ draft they traded picks with the Nuggets to get what would become a potential superstar in the making.
Donovan Mitchell was selected 13th overall by the Denver Nuggets, and his rights were traded to Utah for the 24th overall pick and Trey Lyles. The Jazz soon found out they had made the right trade to acquire Mitchell not far into the season.
Take away Ben Simmons, and Donovan Mitchell would be the clear-cut favorite to win Rookie of the Year. He currently averages over 20 points per game on the season, scoring at least 25 points in 27 games. Mitchell went from a promising rookie piece to their hopeful franchise player to build around in the future.
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The Jazz won’t finish with a better record than last season but have the 4th seed in the playoffs. The Utah Jazz started out 19-28 this season. Since then, they have gone an astonishing 28-5 in their last 33 games.
Based on how hot the Jazz have been recently, no team wants to see them in the first round.