Breaking Down This Bizarre Trade Between The Suns And Jazz

It’s Tuesday night. You’re scrolling through your phone when a Twitter notification from NBA Insider Shams Charania pops up. It’s a trade alert. However, this time, there are no players involved. Of course, that isn’t uncommon in the world of professional sports. Sometimes, teams need to make strictly asset/financially focused deals to set up a future trade or avoid one of the league’s tax aprons.

But this time was different. In this deal, the Utah Jazz parted ways with three first round picks in exchange for one first round pick from the Phoenix Suns.

Yes, the Jazz traded three first round picks in exchange for one, but why?

Phoenix Suns

For the Suns, the rationale behind this move is simple. As one of the frontrunners to land Jimmy Butler, the Suns will want to stock the cupboards as much as possible to sweeten the pot as they negotiate with the Miami Heat. In theory, having three picks to offer them is more enticing than just a single first. Also, this gives the Suns more asset flexibility. For instance, what if they only need two of those firsts to get the Butler deal done? Then, they can turn around and use the other first in a separate deal for another player.

Utah Jazz

Okay, so we know why the Suns did it, but what in the world were the Jazz thinking?

First, let’s take a look at the specific picks that were involved in this deal. All three of the firsts traded by the Jazz are pick swaps that take place in 2025, 2027, and 2029. In 2025, the Suns will get the least favorable out of the picks that originally belonged to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2027 and 2029, they will get the least favorable available pick between the Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Jazz. The Suns’ pick is their own, and it is a 2031 unprotected first.

Given how many teams are involved in the swaps, these picks will most likely end up being late first round selections. Meanwhile, even if the Suns manage to get Butler, given the advanced age of their hypothetical core (Butler is 35, Kevin Durant is 36, and Devin Booker is 28) and their lack of future picks to replace them, they will probably be a pretty bad team once the 2031 NBA Draft rolls around. That means that the Jazz will probably be getting a top 10 pick from the Suns.

For Utah, this is a calculated and fascinating gamble. As a team that already has eight players aged 23 or younger, the Jazz decided to consolidate their draft capital for more valuable picks (i.e., taking the quality over quantity approach). The Jazz still have a ton of draft capital from when they parted ways with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert (11 firsts in the next seven years, including the one they just got from Phoenix). They just now also have a potential future top 10 pick instead of three weaker pick swaps.

This deal could signal a new era of transactions. In the past, we’ve seen rebuilding teams be willing to take on bad contracts in exchange for draft capital. But we haven’t really seen too many situations where a team takes advantage of another team that is willing to hemorrhage their long-term future in order to get their hands on some fast cash. Who knows, maybe this quantity-over-quality approach could gain some legs.

In the short term, the Suns have put themselves in prime position to land the Heat’s disgruntled star forward. But from a more big picture standpoint, the Jazz may have just created a blueprint for tanking teams to rebuild smartly.