Throughout the week of the NBA lottery and pre-draft combine in Chicago after the Utah Jazz got the second pick in next month’s NBA draft, there were countless people who asked me some version of this question:
“So, do you really think the Jazz are going to trade up to get No. 1?”
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there are connections between the Utah Jazz and a player who could be the No. 1 pick, AJ Dybantsa. There’s a BYU connection. Did you know that Jazz owner Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge are active and involved with their alma mater in Provo?
When I would answer, saying that there was nothing being said to me that would indicate the Jazz were going to trade the pick, I was then hit with something like this:
“Hmmm ... I don’t know ... I’ve heard that they’re seriously considering it.”
From who?
For a week I tried to get to the root of where this was coming from, and it was always second or thirdhand and there was never any real credibility to it other than the connections that everyone already knew about between Dybantsa and the Jazz.
I’ll tell you what I actually heard, credibly, from executives across the league and from people inside the Jazz — Utah trading the second pick is highly unlikely.
Will there be conversations with the Washington Wizards? Yes, because that is the prudent thing to do. There will also be conversations with the Memphis Grizzlies (third pick) and Chicago Bulls (fourth pick) and other teams that are picking below where the Jazz are slated, because it would be irresponsible and negligent to not understand what the market was like heading into draft night.
But that doesn’t mean the conversations will lead to movement.
In the 14 years I’ve spent covering the NBA, there are two truths I have learned never go out of style and are always worth sticking close to. First, don’t overthink the obvious.
This works a couple of different ways. If the right answer is obvious and staring at you in the face, there’s no reason to spiral down rabbit holes over analyzing everything. But there’s also the kind of obvious that feels a little dumb, like when someone states the obvious and there’s no real reason for it. Don’t overthink either of those.
Second, don’t pay for something that you can have for free. Or, don’t pay for something that you already have.
For months and months there has been minor debate about who should be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — Dybantsa or Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. Even as those debates swirled there are those who point to Duke’s Cameron Boozer as being a stat-stuffing, analytics darling. Then there are those who think Caleb Wilson out of North Carolina is the draft sleeper who could go as low as No. 4, but in the future we might look back and see it as an obvious blunder for all the teams that passed up on him.
If the draft class is that good, if the Wizards can make their selection at No. 1 and you can still take a player who everyone believes will be a future multi-time All-Star with Hall of Fame and MVP potential and you don’t have to package together anything in order to have that player, then just take that player.
Trading up to No. 1 will cost. It could cost a future pick. It could cost a currently rostered player. It could cost both of those things. Making the No. 2 selection is free, and it’s important to point out that the Wizards could take Peterson, making Dybantsa the free selection at No. 2.
Also, let’s go ahead and talk about the obvious that doesn’t need to be overthought. Yeah, the Smiths and Ainges have ties to BYU, but that is not going to dictate how the Jazz draft. That is not going to force the Jazz to leverage future pieces, developing players or assets that could really help the team.
Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia went to Michigan State and is a substantial donor to the university, but the Suns aren’t making roster decisions based on what happens with the Spartans. San Antonio Spurs CEO R.C. Buford is not making team decisions based on the time he spent at Texas A&M or Oklahoma State, because that is not the way that things work in the NBA.
If Dybantsa ends up filling seats and being a financial boon for an NBA team, it will be because he is a great NBA player and a team is constructed well around him and that team wins games. The same goes for Peterson and any other draft pick.
It is not the prospects’ college that makes NBA teams successful, it’s NBA success.
And, just for the sake of really covering this subject, I think it’s important to mention that the Jazz will not be selecting Boozer just because his father played for the Jazz and currently works for the team in their scouting division.
Mikal Bridges’ mother worked for the Philadelphia 76ers when the team drafted him and then swiftly traded him on draft night to the Suns.
The NBA world seems to get smaller all the time. There are friends and former teammates and family members and connections around every corner and on every team, and those connections will not dictate who will be drafted. It is talent and belief in that talent that dictates the draft.
That is the thinking that guides the Jazz. They will not be making draft selections based on who was recruited to Kevin Young’s team. They will not be making draft selections based on who is currently on the scouting staff. They will not be making selections because of any sort of college pride or familiarity.
The Jazz will draft the best player available, and more likely than not, they will be doing that with the No. 2 pick.