Jazz’s John Collins Trade Dubbed ‘Biggest Regret’ of the Year 2023

During the 2023 NBA offseason, the Utah Jazz were one of the few teams to maintain calm and conservative through their team-building. By only making a few minor moves around the edges, the front office remained patient through the process.

However, after going through the early motions of the new season, many are having doubts over the one notable deal this team acted upon over the summer.

The Jazz made the low-risk move over the offseason to bring in John Collins from the Atlanta Hawks in return for veteran Rudy Gay in a second-round pick. While many applauded the move at the time as another capitalization on market value from Danny Ainge, the narrative has quickly changed.

In Bleacher Report’s recent piece detailing each team’s biggest regret of the past year, the move to acquire Collins aligned with the Jazz. Dan Favale dishes on the implications of bringing in the seven-year league vet:

"The Jazz can always hold on to Collins until his value rebounds or he becomes an expiring contract. They are not on a timeline that necessitates urgency. But there is an untold opportunity cost to deciding he was worth this flier."

Moving on from Collins’ contract may be tricky if that’s the route Danny Ainge and Co. decided to go. He still has $78.5 million due to him spanning from this season until the summer of 2026. Any team that decided to acquire him would have to make a heavy cap commitment to him for the next couple of seasons.

Favale continues to detail a few alternatives that could have resulted without making the move with Atlanta:

"How much more information would we have on rookie Taylor Hendricks if Collins wasn't in town? And better yet, who else could the Jazz have bagged with their cap space? A lead guard to streamline the offense and limit the initial reliance on Keyonte George? A real, live, actual wing? Another contract attached to draft equity that further deepened Utah's asset armory? We'll never know. Roughly half a year later, though, it's evident the Jazz should have found out.”

Through his first 29 games played, Collins has averaged 13.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, and just under one block a game (0.9). His three-point shot has also had some much-improved efficiency, jumping from his 29.2%  rate from a season ago to 39.3%.

A few weeks remain until the NBA trade deadline, so a ton of time remains for Collins to generate some staying power on this roster. However, with the early sample size we’ve seen to this point, he may be falling a bit too short of expectations.

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