The trading market is indecisive! Jazz is destined to continue to sink in the short term

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Hui

On June 30, the Jazz reached a deal with the Hornets, and the Jazz sent Sexton and the 2030 second-round draft pick and got Nurkic from the Hornets.

Sexton averaged 18.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game last season, shooting 48% from the field and 40.6% from three-point shooting. Nurkic played 26 pizza games for the Hornets last season, averaging 9.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Judging from their performance last season and their age, Sexton is undoubtedly a more valuable player, and the contracts of both are expiring next summer, the Jazz's deal is undoubtedly puzzling.

Since the loss of Donovan Mitchell and Gobert in the summer of 2022, the overall operations of the Jazz in the past few years are puzzling. Their performance has continued to decline in the past three seasons, and the team only achieved a record of 17 wins and 65 losses last season. However, such a bad record did not win a higher draft pick for the Jazz in this year's draft. They only won the fifth pick and finally selected Es Bailey, who was less than 19 years old. However, it is worth mentioning that Bailey had previously made it clear that he did not want to join the Jazz and refused to participate in the Jazz's trial, but the Jazz still chose to choose this talented forward.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Jazz's sluggish past few seasons is directly related to the chaotic thinking of the team's management. The team's basketball operations president Anji, basketball development consultant Lindsey, and general manager Zanick seem a bit too conservative, especially when it comes to trading players. The Jazz management often cannot complete the transaction because of overestimating the value of team players, which has caused many players of the team to start to decline over time. The most typical example is undoubtedly Markanen.

In the 2022-2023 season, Markkanen became the Jazz's star. He averaged 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during the season. At that time, Markkanen's trading value was the highest. Many strong teams were eager to get this versatile inside player on the offensive end. However, the Jazz's asking price for Markkanen was always very high, and the deal could not be reached in the end. In the past two seasons, due to injuries and other factors, Markkanen's performance began to decline. Last season, he averaged only 19 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage dropped to 42.3%. Obviously, the value of Markkanin's trading today has shrunk significantly, and the Jazz are now hoping to trade Markkanin for future draft picks.

The same example also happened to Kessler. In the rookie season, Kessler's experience made him a hot spot in the trading market. However, in the past two seasons, Kessler has not made substantial progress, and his trading value has also shrunk. However, in the Kessler trading, the Jazz have always spoken out loud and finally persuaded many buyers to withdraw. Now, Kessler seems to continue to stay with the Jazz. If he cannot prove that he can go further, the Jazz will undoubtedly miss the opportunity to sell at the highest point again.

In addition, according to NBA reporter Andy Larson, the Jazz are eager to trade team guard Jordan Clarkson this offseason, but few teams in the trading market are interested in Clarkson at present. Last season, Clarkson averaged 16.2 points per game, but shot only 40.8%. Clarkson averaged 20.8 points per game in the 22-23 season, setting a career high. At that time, like Markkanen, he was at the highest point of trading value, but now, even if the contract expires, Clarkson is not interested, which shows his value in the hearts of buyers.

Hesitant about the transaction, the Jazz's overall strength cannot be improved. What's worse is that their future looks very dim. Looking at this team, there is no player who seems to be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility in the future. No wonder the young Pele sneered at such a team, but ironically, the Jazz really seems to need Pele to save their future now. After all, Pele has obviously better potential than other players in the team.