ESPN Insider Reveals Jazz F John Collins Alarming Trade Value

The Utah Jazz have a John Collins problem.

Mar 29, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet (5) knocks the ball away from Utah Jazz forward John Collins (20) during the first quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images / Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz are stuck between a rock and a hard place regarding second-year Jazzman John Collins. It’s been one year since Collins was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in a salary dump move, and where it stands today, the Jazz may be stuck holding the bill for a player who most likely isn’t a part of the future.

According to ESPN's Zach Lowe, the Jazz might need to give away one of their future draft picks if an exchange were to happen now.

"He [John Collins] has no trade value right now," Lowe said. "You'd have to pay a draft pick, I think, to get somebody to take this contract."

New Lowe Post podcast: On yesterday's massive NBA media news, plus @stevejones20 on our biggest NBA worries for the coming season and reasons to watch 8 rebuilding or semi-rebuilding teams:

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— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 19, 2024

The Jazz are familiar with trades that require sacrificing a draft pick to get out from under a contract. This happened in the Derrick Favors exchange with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022. However, the Jazz may have to wait another year before any franchise would be willing to take on Collins’ salary.

Collins is guaranteed 53.16 million over the next two years. That’s a lot of money for a fringe starter who just turned 27 years old. Collins is coming off a decent year in which he averaged 15.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, but it still doesn’t justify the salary cap space he takes up for the rebuilding Jazz.

The big question moving forward is where does Collins fit in a year in which the Jazz focal point will be player development. Jazz head coach Will Hardy has been generous in distributing minutes to the veterans since arriving in Salt Lake City, but this year feels like it could be different. 

Utah should be gunning for a top-5 selection, and the youth movement must take center stage to increase its lottery odds. This means playing Kyle Filipowski and Taylor Hendricks over Collins from day one. Where it stands today, Utah's frontcourt includes Walker Kessler, Drew Eubanks, Lauri Markkanen, Hendricks, Filipowski, and Collins. Does this leave Collins as the odd man out?

It remains to be seen what approach the Jazz will take, but we know that Collins will be calling Salt Lake City home for a bit unless Utah is willing to give up some draft capital in trade. That's probably not an option for a team that's rebuilding, and we may see Collins in a Jazz uniform all the way up until the trade deadline of the 2025-26 season.

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