In the lead-up to the NBA Draft, Dennis Lindsey, the Utah Jazz’s executive vice president, said all options (moving up, down, or out) were on the table. A few days later, is admonition proved accurate.
The Jazz on Wednesday morning traded their No. 23 first-round pick and the rights to Ante Tomic to the New York Knicks for their No. 27 first-round pick and No. 38 in the second round
The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Tomic, of Croatia, was originally selected 44th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. He is now 33 years old and has never played in the NBA.
The Knicks' motivation for doing the trade is clear: With selections now at Nos. 8 and 23, they appear to be hoping to package those picks together to move up in the lottery.
As for the Jazz, this deal now gives the team two picks in what is considered a draft short on top-tier talent but deep with role players.
Moving down four spots gives the perception that either the Jazz were confident that the player they want is unlikely to be targeted by other teams in the area, or that they hold multiple prospects in similar esteem and would be roughly equally pleased to come away with any of them, while also picking up an additional asset.
Acquiring a second-round pick who can potentially contribute is an advantageous move for a team that is up against the salary cap, as a rookie second-rounder is slated to make about half of what a veteran minimum contract would cost.
Utah did not previously have a second-round pick in this draft. While the No. 51 overall pick currently in the hands of the Golden State Warriors originally belonged to Utah, it has had quite the vagabond existence.
The Jazz originally traded that pick to Cleveland in Nov. 2018 in the deal that sent Alec Burks to the Cavaliers in exchange for Kyle Korver. In last year’s draft, the Cavs packaged that pick with three others to Detroit in exchange for the rights to Kevin Porter Jr. The Mavericks then made a deal with the Pistons, agreeing to move down from the 37th pick to the 45th pick in the draft in exchange for two future picks — one of which was the Jazz’s 2020 second-rounder. And finally, the pick was exchanged one more time when the Mavs acquired Willie Cauley-Stein from Golden State in exchange for the pick.
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