Bleacher Report Reveals Jazz's Report Card Grade for 2024 Offseason

The results are in for the Utah Jazz's offseason.
Mar 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) speaks with shooting coach Jeff Hornacek before the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) speaks with shooting coach Jeff Hornacek before the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

While the happenings of the Utah Jazz's offseason might not be finalized as we stand in the middle of July, some faces around the league have begun to size up their recent moves with the rest of the league, and how their actions have fared compared to the other 29 teams.

Bleacher Report dropped their offseason report card grades for the NBA, dishing out an A through D- analysis down the board of the league's teams. Some squads fared extremely well, like the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks each securing an A, while others such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers found themselves at the bottom of the barrel with a D+ and D- respectively.

However, when it came to ranking where the Jazz stand amongst the NBA, B/R didn't land too hot or too cold. When totaling together the Jazz's summer, Bleacher Report gave Utah a B grade for their performance across the past couple of months of the offseason.

Andy Bailey offered some positive insight surrounding the Jazz and their offseason, noting that while the outlook may be dubbed as incomplete until Lauri Markkanen's situation is resolved, Utah has still played their cards wisely.

There's a temptation to give the Utah Jazz an "incomplete." Until we have some clarity on whether they'll trade Lauri Markkanen, it's hard to offer definitive analysis on their offseason. But even if Markkanen remains on the roster heading into the 2024-25 campaign, it's easy to sell this summer as a winning one... Ater a draft in which Utah landed Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, and Kyle Filipowski, [Markkanen will] be surrounded by an exciting and developing core."

Andy Bailey, Bleacher Report

Outside of the lone free agency signing of Drew Eubanks to a two-year deal, and a strong trio of draft choices in Williams, Collier, and Filipowski, the Jazz have stuck notably conservative in their moves rather than enacting a major shift to the roster.

Of course, Utah has had their fair share of trade rumors with just about anyone on the roster, but on paper, this team looks very similar to the year prior, except with a better young core. The Jazz did lose out on veteran guard Kris Dunn to the Clippers, but this team has still managed to stay the course despite his departure.

The decision to take the draft and develop route has given the Jazz an extremely formidable group of young players to build with, which include this year's selections, along with guys like Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Brice Sensabaugh, and Walker Kessler, who have the potential to take a second or third-year leap during Utah's 2024-25 campaign.

Depending on how the Jazz handle the Markkanen fiasco, the Jazz could even have room to improve their grade by either finding a monster haul in return for him or even sticking with the expected outcome to re-negotiate and extend him. Regardless, it's clear Danny Ainge and the Jazz have a plan for this franchise overhaul, and they're on a solid track up to this point.

With Ainge at the helm, anything is possible for the Jazz moving forward, but it's clear things are trending up in Salt Lake City.


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Jared Koch
JARED KOCH

Jared Koch is the Associate Editor of The Frozen Rope — SI.com's team website covering the Utah Jazz. He's covered the NBA and NFL for the past two years, also being the Managing Editor of Inside The Kings — SI.com's team website covering the Sacramento Kings.