Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz will be entering year two of their rebuild, after trading Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert last summer, but they still have more than a few steps forward to make before they’re in a position where they can consistently compete in the Western Conference. During his offseason, the Jazz took on the reclamation project that John Collins is and added three potential future starters with their three first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft.
That’s in addition to a solid core that they already had with Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, and Ochai Agbaji. While the Jazz has talent on their roster, they are still in the process of identifying which players will be considered part of their core foundation moving forward. Because of that, the Jazz will naturally be a team that many consider to be “tanking” this year.
The Jazz is still 1-2 years and a couple of difference-making pieces away from possibly crashing the playoff party in the West. Especially when you consider how deep the conference is at the moment. It would not be the worst idea in the world for the Jazz to tank one more year before trying to make a big splash next offseason.