What to make of Jaren Jackson Jr. and role players being traded to the Utah Jazz

There’s a figurative mushroom cloud over Memphis now that Jaren Jackson Jr., Vince Williams Jr., John Konchar and Jock Landale were traded to the Utah Jazz. The Grizzlies are getting back three first-round picks, rookie Walter Clayton, Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang, but how much of a good thing is this?

Give the Memphis executives an A. The season is about lost, the build is flawed, and there's no sense in trying to run it back when players get healthy, if ever. Still, they should probably send Jackson a nice gift basket for increasing his trade value in the last 14 games when he averaged 21.1 points on 48 percent shooting.

They made the difficult but right decision. As talented as Jackson is, he is not good enough to be the second-best player on a championship team. He fouled too often (third-most in the NBA this year), wasn’t a good rebounder and didn’t get to the line enough. The problem with paying a defensive expert who isn’t elite on offense big money is that the rules limit their impact because they can’t hand-check like before, and carrying violations aren’t enforced.

He had two years left on his deal before being eligible for his player option, and his salary ate way too much into the cap space, so getting back three FRPs, which are precious, gives the team significant flexibility. Consider how the upcoming draft is supposed to be loaded; they now have more ammo to trade up if they are not satisfied with the pick they get.

Jackson leaves the Grizzlies sixth in points, seventh in rebounds and third in blocks. His teams never left the second round, but his time in Memphis mattered because he had a big impact on the youngsters who attended his basketball camps. In his last camp in September, his 25 pupils received a thorough hoops education that consisted of skills training, practice, games and film review.

Additionally, two of the pieces that hurts to lose are Konchar and Williams. The former was underused, only playing 14.5 minutes this year, but he has good instincts and is an efficient inside-the-arc scorer. The latter was a decent playmaker who stepped up big-time for the team in Ja Morant's absence.

The returning pieces include a plug-and-play guy in Anderson who can be a secondary playmaker and a decent back line disruptor. Clayton is a promising shooter with pedigree as a collegiate champion at the University of Florida. Niang's 8.2 million come off the books after this year, and he is not a good defender, but someone who should get regular-season minutes as a standout shooter; he would already be Memphis’ best volume option. And Hendricks is a project player at this point, having only played in 76 games since 2023.

In Jackson's walk-off interview after Monday's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, he answered on being excited for the young players on the team and that he was glad to play with them. This move underscores how nothing is permanent in the NBA.