Tracking Jazz's 2023 First-Round Picks Gleaned from Busy Offseason

With the Utah Jazz in the midst of a rebuild, it’s never too early to see where the first-round draft picks executive Danny Ainge gleaned from a busy, trade-filled offseason will fall.

In what will be a loaded 2023 NBA draft class, let’s review what picks Utah possesses.

Utah has rights to their own pick
Utah has rights to Minnesota Timberwolves' pick unprotected
Utah has rights to the least favorable pick out of the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Houston Rockets via Brooklyn

2023 Jazz Pick

The first week wasn’t a good week for those fans in Jazz Nation with aspirations of Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson coming to Salt Lake City with their own pick. Utah won three of its first four contests, and it appears that there’s enough talent on this team to make a run at a play-in situation if they decide to keep their foot on the gas.

Newly-acquired players Lauri Markkanen, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kelly Olynyk, and Collin Sexton have all contributed to the team's early success. Also, first-round pick Walker Kessler looks like he’s NBA-ready, which bodes well in this year's standings, but will hinder Utah’s odds of landing a top-five prospect in the 2023 draft.

2023 Timberwolves' Pick Unprotected

It was a good start for the Jazz in regard to Minnesota’s pick. The Rudy Gobert-led Timberwolves went 2-2 in a week where they lost to two projected bottom-dwellers in Utah and the San Antonio Spurs. After the Spurs' loss, Minnesota head coach Chris Finch didn’t mince words when speaking about the effort of his team.

"They just out-punked us in every way possible. Out ran us. Out competed us. Out-physicaled us," Finch said. “It was ugly and unacceptable. We knew that they are a hard-playing team... and play the game the right way."

Also, it should be noted that both of Minnesota's wins are against the Oklahoma City Thunder which is a team that could be tanking. It might take a minute for Minnesota's roster to gel, but how they perform over the next month is worth keeping an eye on.

2023 Nets Conditional Pick

It was a really interesting week for the pick that the Jazz acquired in the Royce O’Neale trade with the Nets. They will receive the least favorable pick out of Houston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. We can take the Rockets out of the equation as they won’t have a better record than both the Nets and 76ers.

It will come down to Brooklyn or Philadelphia, with both teams getting off to a bad start (good if you’re a Jazz fan.)

Brooklyn had a tough schedule out of the gates facing Memphis, Toronto, and New Orleans. The Nets' only win was against Toronto while losing in double digits to Memphis and New Orleans.

The sky's the limit when Kevin Durant is on your team, but if we’re being honest, this team has a low floor, too. Durant’s injury history, paired with the unpredictability of Kyrie Irving, could be a recipe for a team that could spiral down to the lottery. Again, it's another situation that Jazz fans should be keeping in the back of their minds.

Jazz Nation should also be noticing what’s happening in Philadelphia. The 76ers appear to be a dysfunctional mess while losing three out of their first four games.

There’s enough talent there to make a deep playoff run, but we’re talking about another team that has a low floor. A combination of Joel Embiid’s health, James Harden’s decline, and a head coach that may be on his way out could spell trouble for the 76ers.

Again, I’m not saying Brooklyn or Philadelphia aren’t going to make the playoffs, but wouldn’t that be something if Ainge ended up parlaying O’Neale into a lottery pick? We’ve all seen stranger things happen.

Stay tuned.

Follow Patrick on Twitter @pbyrnesNBA.

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