When the Utah Jazz signed Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills this past offseason, it was done with two goals in mind.
First, bring in veterans who would corral and give sharp examples to the young players of what it takes to be a respected pro. That was mostly the directive given to Mills. Second — the task set for Eubanks — toughen up Walker Kessler and push him to be an even stronger post player.
Mission accomplished on both fronts.
Now, if you’re a person who didn’t care for those reasons or didn’t think they were good enough reasons to sign two players, you might have thought that the Jazz signed a couple of guys that wouldn’t have any trade value while also taking up two roster spots.
But the Jazz ended up trading Eubanks and Mills for P.J. Tucker, Mo Bamba and a 2030 second-round pick. Considering that Tucker hasn’t even played this season and that the Jazz waived Bamba, a single second-rounder doesn’t really move the needle that much. But then the Jazz did even more.
The Miami Heat were (confusingly) willing to give up second-round pick and Dennis Schröder and then the Jazz were able to flip Schröder for an additional second-rounder and K.J. Martin.
If you add in the freebee two second-round picks the Jazz got from helping to facilitate the Luka Doncic trade, the Jazz ended the week with five second round picks and Martin, and all they had to give up was Eubanks and Mills.
That’s a really solid turnaround on a couple of non-valuable players.
As for the rest of the trade discussions the Jazz had, they just weren’t able to made deals for John Collins, Jordan Clarkson or Collin Sexton that made sense for the future of the team. Frankly, without a top-tier player or an expiring contract, it was a little hard to deal to the teams that showed interest.
Once this season has concluded, Collins, Clarkson and Sexton will all be on expiring deals and that will make any trade discussions a lot different. But it will also give the Jazz a lot to think about. They certainly will be in discussions about possible deals for those players going forward, but they could also end up with $60 million coming off the books if those players' contracts expire.
If that were to happen, the Jazz would have a lot of financial wiggle room in the 2026 offseason.
Ultimately, the Jazz didn’t do anything big or flashy at this trade deadline. But they did get great value in the deals that they were a part of and now they look toward the future with the first-round asset cupboard already overflowing and a newly stocked second-round asset cupboard to play with.