CBS Sports Draws Out Rationale for Jazz’s Potential John Collins Trade

The Utah Jazz roster may be in to see some moving pieces this summer.

After Danny Ainge recently voiced his desire to go “all-in” ahead of the coming season, several changes could be on the way for a Jazz team that landed under .500 for the second consecutive year. The goal is for this roster to be both competitive and stable as quickly as possible, and as a result, some solid contributors from their previous campaign could be out the door to push the needle forward.

Among those candidates tobe pushed outthis offseason could be last year’s acquisition of John Collins. He spent his 2023-24 in Utah after a deal shipped him off from the Atlanta Hawks, and while he had a season that was a step forward from his last in Atlanta, his fit in Salt Lake City might not be long-term.

During CBS Sports’ latest projections of trade candidates to watch this summer, Sam Quinn laid out the blueprint for Utah to potentially send off the high-flying big man less than 12 months after landing with the team:

” The Jazz took on Collins in a cap dump last offseason. He still has two years of bad money left on his deal, and with younger players like Walker Kessler and Taylor Hendricks in need of minutes plus another lottery pick incoming, the Jazz may regret taking on his contract. Utah is not strapped financially at the moment, and Collins is still a worthwhile player, but if they can move him painlessly, they likely would.”

– Sam Quinn, CBS Sports

Collins’s deal is far from small, as he’s set to make $26.5 million for the next two seasons as long as he accepts his option in 2025-26. For reference, that puts him around the 65th highest-paid player in the NBA next to guys like Jalen Brunson and Jaren Jackson Jr.

It’ll be difficult for the Jazz to put together a well-balanced roster when a player of Collins’s caliber is eating up close to 20% of Utah’s total cap space without posting close to All-Star-caliber numbers. If Ainge wants to speed the rebuild process up, his hand could be forced into flipping his money off the books, especially with Lauri Markkanen’s extension soon to come in July.

As things currently stand, Utah has a nice amount of cash to work with this summer at about $38 million freed up, but that number can increase with the right deal on the table for Collins. Depending on the value the 26-year-old holds on the market, the Jazz may or may not have to attach additional assets in a package to trade him, but their pool of future draft picks gives them the flexibility to do either.

Needless to be said, expect the Jazz to remain in the middle of a number of trade rumors throughout these next few months.

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