Which stars should the Utah Jazz trade for? Here’s how fans voted

Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge said his team is “ready to go big game hunting” this offseason — looking for stars of the NBA to join his team.

Are Jazz fans looking for the same?

To find out, I took to the internet, leveraging our Jazz following to poll fans about various stars around the NBA. The Jazz’s trade assets primarily come in the form of a boatload of draft picks from the Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades two offseasons ago. So the question I asked, for 11 different potentially available NBA stars, was this: “Would you trade three first-round picks and matching salary” for each player?

Why three first-round picks? That’s probably the basement price for a lot of these players on the open market. In the last two years, teams have been more likely to trade large quantities of first-round picks for players they want. Mitchell and Gobert trades received a total seven picks and three pick swaps, Kevin Durant received four picks and a pick swap.

Even James Harden, a distressed asset on the market after vowing never to play for Sixers vice president Daryl Morey ever again, was moved for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a pick swap. Keeping the pick package identical across the 11 polls allows us to compare apples to apples.

About 5,500 fans voted in each poll. Fans were allowed to vote yes, no, or that “it depends” — perhaps on the exact salary ballast or picks used. Without further ado, here’s how the votes came out:

What did Jazz fans say?

Jazz fans said yes to just four of the proposed trades: Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown. That being said, Doncic was the only player that Jazz fans were overwhelmingly in support of making a deal for. For the others, Kevin Durant, Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Mikal Bridges, and Dejounte Murray, Jazz fans largely said “thanks, but no thanks.”

Some fans argued for an extremely conservative approach, saying the team was too far away to make any trades for a star. “Jazz still need several starters before they get a star. One star player would not make them a championship team...or even close. Hence, all the reservations,” Twitter user kdelaney wrote.

User RobRidge1 said “You have to be realistic about when your window is: The West is a murderers row over the next 3-5 years — the Nuggets, T-Wolves, and Thunder will continue to get better, with Wemby’s Spurs lurking. Do any of those players (besides Luka) put you past the first round of the playoffs?”

Others, though, were full-blown in favor of nearly any trade, recognizing the value available on the market.

“No brainer to me… any of these are worth three firsts … think of it as trading our three rookies recently for one of these top players in the league…. You would do it in a heart beat,” FLjazzfan wrote. Utahjazzyman concurred, writing, “I’m very glad Jazz fans don’t get to make the decision. Absolutely shocking results on some of these. If you only had to give up 3 picks you do almost all of these instantly without a second thought.”

There was a third group of fans — and perhaps the most sizable, given the disparate results above — who wanted to acquire some of the players, but not others. For one example, some saw Zion Williamson as an intriguing target because of his age and prodigious talent, while others point to his injury history and off-court difficulties as reasons to stay away. Jaylen Brown is a quality player, but just signed a five-year, $300 million extension. Is he good enough to earn that salary? Reasonable minds disagree.

A shrinking market

We have to acknowledge: These polls are not reality. NBA GMs don’t simply get to go to a supermarket full of NBA stars and pay sticker price, offering their three first-round picks and matching salaries to get a star. The Jazz’s options are going to be significantly more limited — and more competitive.

For one, there’s no real indication that Doncic is on the market, or even especially close. Rumors have spread since the Mitchell/Gobert trades that the Jazz were positioning themselves to acquire him, but the Mavericks are still a playoff-competitive franchise that has no real reason to move on from the 25-year-old. If he were on the market, though, he’d surely command more than three picks — probably more than double that.

There was hope that the Phoenix Suns might want to be sellers after a disappointing season where they were swept in the first round by the Timberwolves. But at a news conference on Thursday, Suns owner Mat Ishbia said that he had no intention of making any selling moves, instead looking to add pieces to his core around Booker and Durant. “Ask the other 29 GMs — 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team, our draft picks, and everything as is. The house is not on fire. We’re in a great position. It’s not hard to fix,” he argued, albeit unconvincingly.

The same is true of the New Orleans Pelicans, who also on paper seem stuck in the middle in the Western Conference. They also probably need to make changes to where they want to go. But their team’s basketball decision maker, David Griffin, said that they were “moving in the right direction” in a press conference once their team was eliminated. Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson look likely to stay at this point.

There are some brighter spots. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray have clashed in a disappointing backcourt for the Atlanta Hawks, and indications are that their leadership wants to move one of those players. Zach LaVine was available at the deadline for the Chicago Bulls, and nothing since then points to a change. The Nets have looked to hang on to Mikal Bridges so far, but have been non-committal about their future this offseason.

But under 25% of Jazz fans want to give up the assets it would likely require to get those players in Utah.

For his part, Ainge said that the Jazz are “not really interested in dinosaurs,” but instead are “interested in good 6-7 year (players).” He continued, “I’m not saying that we wouldn’t go get some veteran player for a short-term fix to buy us some time, but that’s not as likely.”

He may well have different preferences than the fanbase does. But they do have that in common: a reluctance to take on just any star.

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