Why Acquiring Zach LaVine Doesn't Make Sense for the Jazz

The Utah Jazz are the center of some recent trade buzz around the NBA.

Nov 6, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine (8)drives to the basket against Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Trade season is in full effect with the 2023-24 NBA season finally coming to a close, and the Utah Jazz have wasted no time in getting involved into the action.

According to recent reports, the Jazz are among teams in conversations with the Chicago Bulls to potentially deal for former All-Star guard Zach LaVine. The 2x Slam Dunk Contest winner has been surrounded by trade talks since the start of this past regular season, and it seems those discussions have only increased as we inch into the summer.

However, while the Jazz have been linked almost consistently to a LaVine trade, even dating back to the deadline, it's a bit hard to envision such an addition being a perfect fit in Salt Lake City. There's a reason why it's taken so long for Chicago to ship him off over the past few months, and it should effectively keep Utah and Danny Ainge at bay because of it.

LaVine with the Jazz is far from the ideal fit with this current roster. The 2x All-Star is an athletic, high-flying 20 PPG scorer when fully healthy, but that should be far from Utah's biggest priority to bring in this summer.

The Jazz need impactful, versatile defenders, strong floor spacers, and ample facilitators that can move the ball around efficiently and effectively. LaVine is no doubt a talented player in this league, but he doesn't quite check any of those boxes. He averaged his lowest assist number since 2018, shot an almost career-worst 34.9% from three, and his defensive impact is slim to none.

Utah also has enough scoring guards as is to work with on the roster. Collin Sexton is coming off of his best season in recent memory, Jordan Clarkson still remains one of the better bench sparkplugs in the NBA if he sticks with the Jazz, and Keyonte George showed out in his first year to be named to All-Rookie second team.

Simply put, the Jazz are well covered when it comes to offensive-minded guards.

Combine the wonky fit with his gigantic $137 million contract to pay across the next two seasons, and the Jazz simply cannot afford to bring him on to eat 30% of the team's salary cap space and continue to build a well-rounded roster. Lauri Markkanen will be commanding a substantial chunk of that money this offseason, and Utah would be much better suited to invest cash there rather than spending big on LaVine.

He's also coming fresh off of season-ending foot surgery, which sidelined him for all but 25 games in 2023. Any move to bring LaVine in would effectively come with banking on him to return to 100% health, and for a guard nearing 30 years old with a play style heavily dependent on athleticism, that's a risky and pricy gamble for any team to make.

An acquisition of the 2015 lottery pick would also likely signal the Jazz having the desire to take on bad contracts and extended draft capital to build towards the future, but that doesn't seem to be Danny Ainge's "plan A" for this offseason.

The widely-recognized goal for Utah this summer is to go "big-game hunting" to fast-track this rebuild into a championship-level unit. LaVine is a big name, but he may not push the needle in terms of putting wins on the board, especially in a loaded Western Conference.

It's refreshing to see Utah do their due diligence into the trade market this summer, but LaVine looks like a name to pass on. Unless the Jazz were able to swing some immense draft capital their way to incentivize taking on such a massive contract, forfeiting assets in this type of trade would be a hard pass for me.

As the offseason progresses, we'll likely get to see more star talent become available around the league, and land as a better fit on paper in Utah. Expect the Jazz to turn over every stone to try and take a step forward for 2024.

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