Jazz GM Justin Zanik Tried to Trade Up From 28th Pick on Draft Night
During a successful draft, the Utah Jazz entered the night with three first-round picks, with many teams and fans questioning if the front office would decide to move up or down the board with those coveted selections. Ultimately, the Jazz stayed put at 9th, 16th, and 28th, given that some of their favorite prospects in the class fell in their laps.
Still, Utah was ready to move at a moment's notice considering how the board fell. Justin Zanik spoke to the media about the Jazz's draft activity and their overall approach, specifically during the latter half of the first round:
“With Brice [Sensabaugh]...I didn’t expect him to be here at 28. So, when he started slipping a bit, at least in our rankings, we started getting a bunch of calls from teams trying to move in. And we just kept waiting to see if there was a chance [that he’d be there]. We actually even made some attempts to move up after we selected Keyonte from 28. We had a couple of guys we were looking at to try and do that.
- Jazz GM Justin Zanik via post-draft presser.
It comes as no surprise, given the persistent rumors of the Jazz attempting to move around the board both on draft night, as well as during the days leading up to the event. Fortunately, the Jazz secured what Zanik described as their 9th, 10th, and a ‘top-18’ ranked players on their big board without moving an inch.
Another piece of this Zanik comment that sticks out comes at the end when describing the 'couple of guys' a trade-up could have happened for. If not for Sensabaugh, who would be some other potential 'top-18' prospects within that range the Jazz could’ve moved up for?
Cam Whitmore? Nick Smith Jr.? Dariq Whitehead? We likely will never know for sure, but it’s an intriguing topic to think about.
Still, without a trade, the Jazz coming out of the draft with such highly regarded names in the building makes it safe to assume Utah has a substantial role planned for all of these players. The best part about it being the Jazz retained all of their future assets while still getting these prospects.
The Jazz will look to welcome all three rookies into Salt Lake City on Monday as the newest additions to the franchise.
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