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Mar 17, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson (00) and forward Lauri Markkanen (23) sit not he scorers table during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

Utah Jazz Offseason Dilemma: Accelerate or Stay Patient?

Originally posted on Utah Jazz on SI | By Alex White | Last updated May 24, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The Utah Jazz are in the early stages of yet another important offseason for their rebuild. Thus far, the Jazz have added many young players to their roster with the hope that they will grow into productive NBA players, similar to what teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and others have done.

Unfortunately for the Jazz, none of their young pieces look to be the star-level of talent needed to build your franchise around.

Walker Kessler looks like a starting-caliber center for years to come. Keyonte George has shown flashes of scoring and playmaking at a special level for a 21-year-old, but the defense and efficiency have been too inconsistent thus far. Others like Taylor Hendricks, Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski, and Brice Sensabaugh have shown encouraging flashes of their own as well.

Because nobody has truly popped in a way that gives you a ton of confidence, and the team dropping to fifth in the draft order, people have begun to wonder if the Jazz will get impatient and try to speed up the timeline. Let’s discuss some of the pros and cons of doing so.

Pros

One of the reasons for speculation around the Jazz getting antsy to improve is because of Lauri Markkanen, the soon to be 28 year old who signed a massive contract extension with the team last summer. Markkanen is an All-Star and one of the most unique players in the league due to his size, athleticism, and shooting ability.

He’s also never made the playoffs in his eight-year NBA career. While I’m sure he and the Jazz have had a lot of discussion about their timeline, how much longer does Markkanen want to wait before he can play meaningful basketball?

The team also has Kessler, John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson, each ready to win now. If the team could go out and get another all-star-level player or two in the trade market, there’s an argument that the Jazz could climb up the standings.

We’re in an era of parity throughout the league, where depth and quality players seem to outweigh top-end talent to an extent. With so much young talent on the team, maybe the right mix of them and veteran guidance would be optimal for their development and the team’s success.

Cons

In reality, it seems like the Jazz remain pretty far away from contention. The thing that they have going for them is a warchest of future draft picks from other teams and the flexibility to continue accumulating assets while they bring in and develop young talent.

One of the biggest deterrents to the Jazz getting impatient is that they still owe a first-round draft pick to the Thunder by way of the Derrick Favors salary dump all those years ago. If the pick lands in the top 8 following the lottery, the Jazz would keep that pick, and their debt to OKC would be extinguished.

With a loaded 2026 draft class headlined by two youngsters with Utah ties, AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, the Jazz are probably better off staying the course and hoping to land one of those rare talents found at the top of the draft.

Once that player is in place, it becomes much easier to speed up the timeline around that guy. The catch is you have to have that guy in place before doing so. Maybe whoever the Jazz draft fifth overall this June could develop into one of those guys as well. If so, all the better.

Overall

Right now, I think the Jazz should continue to practice patience until their opportunity to strike is clear. That could come as soon as next summer with another year of developing their young talent, keeping and adding a high lottery pick to the roster, and capitalizing on the cap flexibility they’ve been saving up.