NBA Mock Deal Moves Andrew Wiggins to Surprise Team

Recently, there’s been some smoke surrounding a potential move back out West for Wiggins. While trade talks aren’t active, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly keeping an eye on Wiggins, who is currently playing for a Miami Heat team that was bounced out of the playoffs in four games last season.

One recent mock trade from Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley proposed the idea that Wiggins could get sent back to the Western Conference… to the Utah Jazz.

The NBA world has been waiting on a change of scenery for the sharpshooter Lauri Markkanen for quite some time now.

The former seventh-overall pick showed up in Utah in 2022. Since landing on the Jazz, Markkanen has done well for himself, but he still hasn’t put together a playoff run with the Jazz in three seasons. Contenders had eyes on him, but the Jazz weren’t willing to part ways.

After making a handful of key moves, including moving off of John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson, one might assume that the biggest domino will eventually fall.

In the hypothetical scenario, Markkanen lands in Miami alongside Georges Niang and Kyle Filipowski. The Jazz would get two young standouts in Nikola Jovic and Jamie Jaquez, along with Wiggins and Terry Rozier. Some draft capital is included as well, leaving the Jazz with a 2029 top-three protected first-round selection, along with a 2030 first-round swap.

Wiggins might be the biggest name in the deal for Utah, but the youngsters would hold the actual value, as the Jazz would still be in a rebuild phase.

“Rozier would be nothing more than a salary-dump,” Buckley wrote.

“The Jazz would be banking on Wiggins showing enough as a point-of-attack defender and support scorer to pique the interest of win-now shoppers between now and the trade deadline. Considering he's already generating some trade buzz, that feels closer to a guarantee than any kind of gamble.”

Wiggins to Utah wouldn’t automatically take the Lakers and anybody else out of the equation. It would be in the Jazz’s best interest to see what else they could get for the veteran with 766 games under his belt.

This season, the 30-year-old Wiggins is set to make over $28 million. Next year, he’ll have a $30.1 million player option looming for the 2026-2027 NBA season. Whether Wiggins gets dealt or not, he’ll have an opportunity to join a new team if he desires to hit the free agency market.

Wiggins will be a name to keep an eye on once again.

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