The thinking behind the Utah Jazz acquiring John Collins in 2023 was easy enough to understand — bring in a player that had the potential to either become a part of the Jazz’s future or revamp his value and flip him in a future trade.
If it didn’t work out, the price was low, costing the Jazz a future second-round pick and the washed up shell of Rudy Gay, who never played another NBA minute after being shipped out.
In Collins’ first season with the Jazz, things were a little rocky. It was a really big adjustment for Collins to leave Atlanta, where he’d spent the first six years of his career, and adapt his game. Even so, there were signs near the end of the 2023-24 season that suggested Collins was starting to turn a corner.
Now, after his second season with the Jazz, it’s clear that Collins has more to offer than many would have assumed. And just as the Jazz hoped when they made the deal to bring Collins to Utah, he’s proven that he is a valuable asset. Of course, that will make the Jazz’s decisions moving forward a little more tricky.
John Collins — A
I was probably a little too generous when I gave Collins a B for his 2023-24 performance with the Jazz. My reasoning was based on his shooting improvement, the difficulty he had adapting and how he handled it with sincerity, and his overall demeanor with the team.
That said, there were two glaring and obvious issues for Collins in that first year; the team was better when he wasn’t on the court; and his time spent playing alongside Walker Kessler was a bit of a disaster, so much so that playing them together was largely abandoned.
But in the 2024-25 season, Collins flipped the script on both of those issues.
Per Cleaning the Glass, the team’s efficiency differential with Collins on the court in 2023-24 was -4.9 (really bad) and the team scored -0.4 points per 100 possessions with Collins on the court (bad again). But in 2024-25, the team had a +12.3 efficiency differential and scored 5.2 points more when Collins was on the court. That’s a huge swing!
The Jazz have a lot to weigh. Are they going to try to keep Collins around for a few years? Or, are they going to trade him? And if they trade him, is the value for Collins higher as an expiring contract, or as a player that is under contract at a team-friendly number?
As for playing with Kessler, the pair played 601 possessions together in 2023-24. The spacing was awful, the movement was clunky, and the problems were reflected in the numbers. Lineups that included the both of them had horrible point differentials, efficiency, and a scoring output that ranked in the 11th percentile.
In 2024-25 Kessler and Collins played twice as many possessions together (1,224), the team had a positive point differential and an effective field goal percentage of 56.5% and scored 116.9 points per 100 possessions, which ranked in the 69th percentile compared to other lineups in the league.
On top of that, Collins’ shooting continued to improve and he finished the season hitting 39.9% from 3-point range, which is his best shooting average since 2021, and at the highest volume in his career. He also shot a career-best 84.8% from the free-throw line, while averaging 19 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
Collins’ turnovers increased, but he also had the ball in his hands more than he ever has and was given way more responsibility and freedom than he has ever had in the NBA. Growing pains are not always a bad thing, especially considering how well everything else was going for him.
At 27, Collins is in his prime and has not only proven that he is still as good as everyone believed he was early in his career, but also that he can be so much more than just a lob threat who can hit catch-and-shoot 3s.
He has a $26.5 million player option for the 2025-26 season, which has to be exercised by June 27. Collins’ hope would be to exercise the option for next season and sign an extension.
But the Jazz have a lot to weigh. Are they going to try to keep Collins around for a few years? Or, are they going to trade him? And if they trade him, is the value for Collins higher as an expiring contract, or as a player that is under contract at a team-friendly number?
Those would have been easier decisions to make if Collins had struggled a bit more. Instead, he rebounded figuratively and literally.
