Jazz's 1st-Rounder From Timberwolves Has Been Set by NBA
On Thursday, The Frozen Rope's Patrick Byrnes broke down the Utah Jazz's draft stakes in the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Oklahoma City Thunder play-in matchup. With Minnesota securing the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs, we now know the exact value of the first-round pick the Jazz are holding via the Rudy Gobert trade.
As The Deseret News' Sarah Todd wrote, that Minnesota first-rounder Utah is sitting on will be No. 16 overall. Alas, despite Jazz Nation hoping for the Timberwolves to lose out to the Thunder, and miss the playoffs, which would have given Utah another lottery pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Minnesota played the party pooper.
Utah still holds its own lottery pick, but securing one more from Minnesota would have bolstered the odds of really making some hay on draft day. Still, Utah has a puncher's chance at landing a top-4 pick. Todd writes:
The Jazz have the ninth-best odds in the draft lottery with their own pick (20.3% chance at a top-4 pick and 4.5% chance at the No. 1 pick).
Circle the No. 9 spot as the most likely place Utah will be picking. The mock drafters around the NBA landscape have begun their work, and guys like Kansas forward Gradey Dick have been projected to Utah.
However it shakes out, the Jazz are sitting on an absolute war chest of resources to make complete CEO Danny Ainge's rebuild. From plenty of salary-cap space (second-most in the NBA) to a grip of premium draft picks, the world is Ainge's oyster.
"The optionality that we've created with the roster, just the possibilities are endless," Jazz GM Justin Zanik said on Tuesday. "Those will all come up as the season finishes. What other teams are trying to do, whether it's a trade market or free agent market, we've been studying, and we're ready for any of those opportunities that come up. There's just multiple ways for us to continue to move forward with this team and continue to try to open that championship window. And this is just one step of it, this offseason."
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