The Utah Jazz were among the least impressive teams last season, something that appears to be becoming a trend for the franchise. While tanking is intended to yield positive results in the future, Jazz legend John Stockton seems to have grown frustrated with this approach.
Stockton addressed this matter on “The Ultimate Assist” when asked whether he was keeping tabs on Utah. He responded:
“I haven’t been tracking them, but I know that there doesn’t seem to be a mission to win. If that’s true, that’s frustrating. Because I think that culture is so hard to come by.”
“I know how hard it was for the Utah Jazz to become a winning organization to begin with, and I came in on the tail end of that. I got to build from that with my teammates. But I wouldn’t give up that fight to win every single game, every single quarter, for anything – for future draft choices, for future anything. Because the future… it moves.”
During Stockton’s era, Utah was at the peak of its powers. After repeatedly contending for the NBA title and dueling with Michael Jordan‘s Chicago Bulls, the Jazz established themselves as one of the best teams in the league.
Since then, Utah has fallen out of the title picture. Calmly, Stockton provided a scathing indictment of the Jazz’s performance.
After notching the worst record in the Western Conference in the 2024-25 season, it is abundantly clear that the franchise hasn’t made many improvements.
Instead, the Jazz may have set themselves up for another poor outing next season. After letting Jordan Clarkson walk in free agency, the Jazz also traded a talented young forward in John Collins for supposedly dubious reasons.
With rumors suggesting that Collins’ positive impact on winning games was viewed as a problem for Utah, the decision to trade him only raises more questions about the team’s outlook.
As things stand, the Jazz seem keen on stockpiling draft picks and expiring contracts to help roster construction efforts in the future. However, given the lack of direction, tanking may not help answer their fundamental problems.
Hence, restructuring the rebuild may become an inevitability that the Jazz will have to come to terms with. To facilitate this, we created a blueprint that would allow Utah to effectively press the reset button on its current venture.
But this is not to say the Jazz can’t be entertaining next season. When looking at the roster, they feature some talented pieces in their ranks.
From high-value assets like Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler to gifted young players like Keyonte George and Ace Bailey, the Jazz possess the necessary tools to create the foundation for the future.
Should they choose to cultivate their team around this nucleus, Utah could be a much more intriguing side in the coming seasons. Ultimately, it would require the franchise to solidify its plans.
