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At this point it is clear, and not at all a secret, that the Utah Jazz are looking forward to the 2025 NBA draft and putting all their decision-making efforts toward garnering a top pick. So far, so good.
So long as the Jazz are able to get a top-10 pick, they’ll keep their own pick in 2025 (if it falls out of the top 10, the pick goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder). But, it’s not just their own pick that the Jazz will be playing with in the 2025 draft.
The Jazz also will have the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first-round pick, although since the Cavs currently have the best record in the NBA, that pick looks like it’s going to be pretty close to the bottom of the first round. But, there is another first-round pick that the Jazz have that could end up being incredibly valuable — the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first-rounder.
Following the Rudy Gobert trade with the Timberwolves, there wasn’t a ton of hope that the 2025 pick would materialize into a lottery pick. And after last season — another incredible coming-out season for Anthony Edwards paired with a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award for Gobert — it seemed that things were on the up-and-up for the T’Wolves, but things haven’t been going great in Minnesota this season, which is great news for the Jazz.
So far this season, the Timberwolves have been playing roughly .500 basketball. That doesn’t sound that bad at all, except for the fact that in the Western Conference, that means that they’ve been jockeying between the 11th and eighth seed. A few bad days and they could easily be in lottery territory.
So, if you’re a Utah Jazz fan, rooting against the Timberwolves through the rest of the 2024-25 season is a pretty good idea.
Minnesota doesn’t have a super tough schedule for the remainder of the year, but they do have some hard games on the schedule that includes three bouts against Oklahoma City, three games against Denver and two more games against the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, the Jazz have one of the 10 toughest schedules for the remainder of the season, a schedule that bodes well for those hoping to see the Jazz rack up losses ahead of the 2025 lottery.
New with the Jazz
Quote of the week
“We’ll try to build on some of those things and go play a good game in New York next year.” — Jazz coach Will Hardy making a New Year’s joke
From the archives
Extra points
- Donovan Mitchell had a feeling Sam Merrill would break out of his slump against the Utah Jazz (Deseret News)
- A reading list for 2025, compliments of the Utah Jazz (Deseret News)
- Remembering Greg Gumbel’s iconic call of the best moment in Utah Jazz history (Deseret News)
Around the league
- Jimmy Butler wants a trade, again.
- Pistons’ Jaden Ivey suffers season-ending leg injury.
- Pelicans devastated after New Orleans attack.
Up next
- Jan. 4 | 6 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Miami Heat | KJZZ
- Jan. 5 | 4:30 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Orlando Magic | KJZZ
- Jan. 7 | 7 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz vs. Atlanta Hawks | KJZZ
- Jan. 9 | 7 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz vs. Miami Heat | KJZZ
- Jan. 11 | 3 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Phoenix Suns | KJZZ