Jazz Land Comical Spot in ESPN's West Tier Rankings

The Utah Jazz have had their fair share of struggles throughout the 2024-25 campaign following their 15-53 record to show three-fourths of the way through the year, and that's abundantly when asking all around the league.

Since the beginning of the season, this team has resided at the bottom of the West standings, eyeing what's to come in the draft lottery rather than the postseason ahead. Therefore, it's no surprise to see where Utah resides within power rankings stacking up the entire conference one through 15.

In ESPN's latest batch of tier rankings from Kevin Pelton sorting out the Western Conference, the Jazz brought up the rear with their last place standing at 15th, falling right behind the 14th-place San Antonio Spurs.

"Utah is all but sure to have the maximum odds at the No. 1 pick (and a chance to take Duke's Cooper Flagg) but dipping behind the Wizards would assure the Jazz no worse than the fifth selection, which would be their highest since taking Dante Exum No. 5 in 2014," Pelton wrote.

Obviously, the goal this time around for Utah will be to land on a better, more appealing prospect than Dante Exum –– and so far, they're on a great pace.

At their current standing of 15th in the West and last in the entire NBA, the Jazz are now in a prime position to secure the best odds in this summer's draft lottery if all holds to form, and if that top spot does end up in Utah's hands, it could mean big things for their future status in these types of rankings.

Still, the Jazz remain considerable steps away from becoming a true contender in a tough Western Conference. The roster is still searching for a 1A cornerstone to build a championship roster around, and in the process, have since put together the league's worst defensive unit, and turn the ball over the most of any team in the NBA.

Clear work needs to be done on both ends of the floor, but a top prospect would be a major boost in finding those improvements. The Jazz are doing all they can to obtain that elite contributor into the fold, but in the meantime, it makes for a few results in the league standings and ESPN tier rankings that aren't quite optically appealing.

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