NBA Insider Predicts John Collins ‘Renaissance’ With Jazz Next Season

Of the highlights from this Utah Jazz offseason, the biggest may be the decision to deal with the Atlanta Hawks to acquire F John Collins. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is entering his sixth NBA season with hopes to bounce back from an overall underwhelming 2022-23 campaign.

New CBA cap restrictions and implications agreed upon this summer forced the Hawks to shed some existing salary from their books to avoid any league penalty. Therefore, Atlanta ultimately chose to send his $78M/3y contract to Utah in return for F Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick.

After posting season averages of 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists last year, Collins took a step back in production from what we saw earlier in his career. He has had stints of being a nightly 20-10 player, also being a key piece in the Eastern Conference Finals run Atlanta had in 2021.

We know there is potential to be a contributing piece to winning basketball in Utah, but it all depends on whether Collins can truly get back to form.

The 2017 first-round pick will have a great opportunity to get his promising career back on track in Utah. As David Aldridge of The Athletic writes, he sees a potential ‘renaissance’ in the cards for his seventh NBA season.

"I’m putting Collins down for a renaissance in the Wasatch, getting back to the form he displayed his first couple of seasons in Atlanta. At his still-reasonable cap number, that would be like a B-plus free-agent pickup for Utah."

Aldridge continues to praise the offseason Utah underwent which included the additions of F Taylor Hendricks and G Keyonte George in this summer’s draft:

Add in the potential high value of Hendricks, who played his way onto all the top-10 draft boards, along with George, and even though the Jazz couldn’t move up into the top five like they wanted, that’s still a good night’s work. If Utah did make Collin Sexton available in trade talks, which was rumored before the draft, the Jazz may have a reckoning down the road with their 24-year-old point guard. Until then, it’s full steam ahead for coach Will Hardy with more talent arriving to augment the core."

There is a lot to love with this Jazz roster, but it all depends on how quickly this team can put things together. Will Collins find his groove with Utah? How fast will this year’s rookies develop? Can Walker Kessler enhance his offensive game further? How about Lauri Markkanen?

Honing in on just under two months until Jazz basketball is underway, all answers to questions about the future of this team are looking to be found soon. Utah will open the 2023-24 NBA season against the Sacramento Kings on October 25th with some exciting storylines in play.

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