'Not tanking' Jazz ditch another starter

The Jazz traded forward John Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday in a three-team deal that sent Norman Powell to the Miami Heat and veterans Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson to the Jazz, along with a future second-round pick. That leaves the Jazz without three veterans who accounted for nearly 3,000 minutes last season.

Love seems likely to get a buyout on his $4.1M salary for next season, while Anderson does provide solid defense and passing for a young Utah team. But the main benefit for Utah seems to be the salary relief from losing Collins and his $26.6M contract, while opening up playing time for younger — and likely inferior — players.

Back in June, Austin Ainge answered a reporter's question about whether the Jazz would manipulate minutes or tank to get better odds in the draft lottery. Ainge gave a succinct answer: "You won't see that this year." 

But since then, they've bought out Clarkson, traded their starting guard in Sexton and sent Collins to the Clippers, with the total return being Love, Anderson and center Jusuf Nurkic, who the Phoenix Suns traded a first-round pick just to get rid of last season.

That's transactional tanking. It's understandable since the Jazz owe a top-eight-protected pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder next season and don't appear close to competing in the tough Western Conference, especially after losing three of their best players.

However, the Jazz do have an opportunity to switch gears from bleeding talent this summer. They've created a $26.6M trade exception from the Collins trade, and could even pivot to getting under the salary cap by waiving non-guaranteed contracts.

That would allow them to go after a restricted free agent like Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga or Quentin Grimes. Still, it's more likely that the Jazz use their space below the luxury-tax line to facilitate salary dumps all season.

Regardless, it's hard to see the Jazz winning many games this season. Perhaps when Ainge said fans wouldn't see the same tanking this year, he meant that they'd see better, more efficient tanking, which the Jazz are doing exceedingly well so far.