Sleeper draft prospects who could seismically alter the Utah Jazz’s rebuild trajectory

Calvin Barrett is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Provo, Utah. Currently writing for SB Nation and FanSided, he has covered the Utah Jazz and BYU athletics since 2024 and graduated (woohoo!) from Utah Valley University.

I had that dream again.

The one where Utah appears at the NBA Draft Lottery reveal with a favorable chance to grab the top selection, only to trip, slide, and tumble all the way down to the 5th overall selection.

In a cold sweat, I bolt and sit upright in my bed. Rigid. Perspiring. Anxious. After an 82-game slate that cast the Utah Jazz to the worst record not only in the NBA but also in franchise history, an all-too-real possibility haunts my subconscious mind, in which the sacrificial Jazz are cast to the depths of reality.

Obscured by a twisted mirror of horror and helplessness, my vision is skewed by a probability. A hypothetical. Good heavens, I’ve been cast into a dimension wherein suffering is not quenched — only met with a second helping. My tummy is full, Grandma. I couldn’t possibly stomach another helping of green bean casserole. My resistance is futile. As the jumbo spoon scoops another heap of greens with mysterious fluid, the NBA lottery odds are out of my control, and the result unmoving.

The tanking cycle calls to me, and I fear I may be incapable of more oblivion.

Heaven forbid, Utah falls in the draft order, and the draft pool shallows out far too quickly. How many more years of torment? How many painful defeats in the name of potential deliverance? Just how long can the Utah Jazz satiate their hungry fanbase on faith and broken dreams?

Maybe this is all a touch dramatic (Me? Dramatic?). Let’s reel in our emotions before “what ifs” catch our line and drag us off the pontoon. Yes, the Jazz could realistically drop to the 5th spot. Does that really suggest doomsday for this taffy-pulled rebuilding process?

With reason as my advocate, let us evaluate a pool of dark horse candidates for the Jazz’s draft selection. Assuming the most popular top four players are off the table (Flagg, Harper, Bailey, Edgecombe), who are some attractive replacements to step onto Utah’s young depth chart and electrify the reconstruction process?

Put simply: who are the sleeper candidates that could make Utah the winners of the draft, even if Cooper Flagg shakes Adam Silver’s hat with travel plans to San Antonio this June (heaven forbid)?

Sleeper Draft Picks Who Could Transform the Jazz

I’ve got to get myself back to bed, so let’s embrace sleep the same way I do every night: desperately rationalizing my imprudent NBA Draft biases. I might need a better hobby.

Candidate 1: Tre Johnson | G | Texas

Gasp! The player on the article’s cover is making an appearance in the text itself? Yes, I know, please simmer down as I attempt to make sense of my not-so-extreme claim.

Is Tre Johnson a popular name in the top-10 range of this draft class? Of course. So here’s my twist: Tre Johnson would be an incomprehensibly terrific outcome compared to his peers likely to be selected directly before him — Bailey and Harper.

Maybe I’m hiking in a wilderness all my own on this one, but the more I envision a projected career for each of these three players, one intrusive thought plants its claws in my mind’s eye and refuses to release until I yield to its insistence: Does the NBA overrate pure athleticism?

Given the raw, god-given ability delivered to each of these three off-ball hoopers, Johnson is well behind his classmates in this subject.

Please forgive me, oh jury of the internet, when I reply with the following.

Big whoop.

That’s right. Big whoop. I’m going against the grain. I’m swimming upstream. I’m searching the internet for more cliches to vomit onto the page. When I look at Johnson, I see a player with the offensive utility belt that could lift the Texan into rarified air in the NBA.

An aetherial scorer and gifted bucket-getter, Tre uses his offensive dousing rods to uncover invisible treasures that mere mortals are simply incapable of revealing. When I see Tre Johnson, I see a ceiling akin to the career path of Devin Booker.

Consistency grabs my attention when evaluating Johnson. A near 40% 3-point shooter and comfortable scorer from anywhere on the floor, he only dropped below double-digits twice on the season as he led the SEC in points per game. As an 18-year-old freshman, he averaged 19.9 per night against the stiffest competition in the nation.

Here’s my pitch: stop salivating over the quote-unquote “high ceilings” of the especially athletic, and start fixating on prospects with a specific and tantalizing talent. If Johnson is still on the board, the Jazz should grab him.

2. Jeremiah Fears | G | Oklahoma

Hold on, hold on. Everybody, quiet down for a second. Yes, I know he struggled shooting the ball at Oklahoma in his freshman year. Yes, I know he’s been known to dip his finger into a few too many hot apple turnovers. Yes, I know that the Jazz are already testing the waters with a fascinating point guard prospect in Isaiah Collier.

I know you know. I get the concept.

But Fears could stealthily become the best point guard in this entire draft class. Save for Dylan Harper — who, we must tragically remind our audience, is unavailable for this thought exercise — the list is very shallow above Fears at the one.

Do you want to know how I really feel about some of the other point guard options in this bunch?

Caution: Entering Ad Hominem Pun Zone. Hazmat suit mandatory past this door

Jakucionis? Jaku Ci U later.

Nolan Traore? More like… No, man. Try no way!

Egor Demin? …I could never speak ill of you. <3

Fears plays in spite of his namesake. He abandons all hesitancy at the door and flips all 26 locks, bolting the exit shut. Sure, the 3-ball didn’t fall with much consistency this season (hitting sub-30% as a freshman), but he could never be dissuaded from an attempt that could be successful.

It’s clear that his remote control has no pause button, and his car has no brake pedal… and likely no seatbelts to that point.

Athleticism with a punch of power and a drenching of creative finishing moves makes this Sooner a fascinating proposition in the NBA. If his pull-up jumper clicks into place and his decision-making receives a tune-up, we could see Fears become a viable option in leading an NBA offense.

Tight handle. Paint magnetism. A thirst for success unquenchable by even a highly refreshing Lime Cucumber Gatorade. Don’t be surprised if Fears becomes a popular riser in the rumor mill.

Noa Essengue | F | France

You may already be well aware of how I feel about this international play-dough prospect. In my very own words, “Love it or hate it, Essengue is an inevitable force soon to hit the National Basketball Association.”

Depending on who you ask, Essengue is a holographic projection who could appear anywhere between the top 10 of the upcoming draft or fall somewhere in the 20s.

Slippery. Fluid. Swift. Effortless. String cheese. These are all words I’ve used to describe how Noa moves across the court, and that to me is one of the most fascinating aspects of his profile. At his size and length (6’9” with a very plus wingspan), he appears comfortable on the basketball court, almost to the point where I question if he ever leaves it. In a Tom Haverford-esque maneuver, could he have replaced the insoles of his shoes with hardwood floorboards?

Whatever the case, already a defensive nightmare for his adversaries, his size helps him get into passing lanes, block shots, and pester any offensive action foolish enough to cross his path. On offense, Essengue boasts a surprisingly tight handle and ability to reach into the chest of the defense by reaching the paint. With proper weight training, Essengue could become something of a Giannis-lite with a stronger baseline and potential to stretch his shooting range well beyond that of the Greek Freak.

I’m higher than most on Essengue, and his shooting ability still leaves plenty of room for improvement. But after improving in each of his two professional seasons, Noa’s shooting touch seems to only be working in a positive direction, and could easily project to become a 35% to 37% 3-point man on top of the defensive versatility and hypnotic feel for the game.

If Utah is so inclined, they could reach deep into their bag for this player, even if it’s not the general consensus. Let me put it this way: it would be insane for Essengue to slip to Utah’s second pick in the draft. Trade up, draft early, or miss out.

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