Jazz Draft Stock on Rise as Lakers Future Begins to Look Bleak

Despite the late season push from LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the key contributing pieces on the roster, the Los Angeles Lakers fell short of their Finals run on Monday, swept 4-0 by 2x former MVP, Nikola Jokic. Things began to look up for the Lakers’ season once they navigated past the trade deadline, but in the end, it led to no avail.

This season had some extremely high stakes for LA. Not only is LeBron 38 years old at the tail end of his career, but Anthony Davis is consistently injury prone and now age-30. The championship window is closing and it’s closing fast. That’s why Rob Pelinka finally decided it was time to part ways with their coveted 2027 first-round pick (top 4 protected) in order to give the team their best chance of winning a title this year.

However, now that the Lakers find themselves eliminated from title contention, the future of the pieces the team got in return for that pick is now in question. D’Angelo Russell is coming off an abysmal playoff series, and Malik Beasley is on a pending team option worth $16 million. Considering the current financial state of the Lakers, that will likely be declined to make more flexibility for roster construction. It makes you wonder whether the Lakers got the most value they could with their highly-sought asset.

Now, the Utah Jazz are beginning to look like they got the better end of the deal after each passing day. Yes, while the players that were dealt from Utah’s end have shown some solid production on their new teams, this should be viewed as a long term investment. Not only did the trade get a ton of future money off the books, including Mike Conley’s $24 million next season, but were able to net the Jazz their fourth first-rounder in 2027. Possibly, a very valuable one at that.

LeBron just recently voiced his uncertainty of playing another NBA season in his post-game presser on Monday, and Anthony Davis has a player option pending for the 2024-25 season. Things could get rough really soon for the Lakers if this core decides to break up.

BREAKING: Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is unsure if he’ll be with team when 2023-24 season starts in fall and retirement is under consideration, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport. https://t.co/7M3WuEzwOL
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) May 23, 2023

If that’s the case, the outlook of the next decade of Jazz basketball continues to improve. With a total of three first rounders in this year’s draft, along with 14 selections over the next six seasons, Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik have set the Jazz up well in their short time rebuilding the franchise.

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