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 from Utah Valley University.
Auburn pillars of iron oxides penetrate the arid surface of Dead Horse Point, one of Southern Utah’s most stunning scenes, as one Tom Cruise flexes his free solo climbing ability. Without the benefit of ropes or cables, the worst Mission: Impossible movie sweeps around the flowiest version of Ethan Hunt as his vacation includes a sheer cliff — essentially a flat wall of stone.
Making this climb will be no small task.
Digging his calloused digits into a bag of climber’s chalk, Cruise does his best Spider-Man impression by snagging the smallest of imperfections in the cliff’s face to scale an increasingly perilous natural body. For a regular man like myself, this maneuver could be chalked up to indirect suicide.
Maybe this is a power one obtains by becoming an Operating Thetan Level VIII, the highest operating level of Scientology. It couldn’t save the second Mission: Impossible from becoming something of a snooze fest for the meat of its runtime.
In this year’s NBA Draft, the Jazz find themselves face-to-face with a comparable climb —should they choose to accept it — of ascending through the NBA Draft order after tumbling to the fifth selection.
Especially with the top three selectors in this season’s draft, Dallas, San Antonio, and Philadelphia, in “win-now” mode, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where Utah’s front office would be excitedly welcomed to negotiate for their enviable places in the top 3.
Now Utah faces the common dilemma: become a mountain goat and summit the cliffs, or sit on the couch as the dreamers on Animal Planet gain a foothold.
Let’s Climb
Philadelphia has been through the rumor mill regarding their rights to the third pick, as their win-now mentality forces a league-wide search for a pre-packaged contributor in their endless pursuit of a championship. Final validation for “The Process” that has scarred and bruised a once-proud franchise and left them with the reanimated remains of Joel Embiid, a version of Paul George who spent a few too many trips through the wash cycle, and likely their most valuable asset in Tyrese Maxey.
Philly’s timer is ticking down, and the team simply doesn’t have the time to develop an Ace Bailey or VJ Edgecombe.
They’d likely prefer a future All-Star like Utah’s Lauri Markkanen.
The Sixers are reportedly expected to be “active” in trade talks for Kevin Durant & Lauri Markkanen that include Paul George & the 3rd pick.
They are also looking at a group of prospects including Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Khaman Maluach, & Kon Knueppel.
Wow.
— RB (@RBPhillyTake) May 19, 2025
With the exponential value dropping — suddenly at first, but more gradually as you descend through the field — the first pick is likely an unreachable acquisition for the Jazz. Especially once you consider Cooper Flagg’s unfiltered star potential, it’s clear that Utah isn’t going to wrestle this draft’s top prize from the Mavs.
San Antonio and Philadelphia are the obvious targets should Danny Ainge and Utah feel inclined to push their chips to the center of the table. The Sixers have been buried in trade rumors since the Draft Lottery, and truthfully, are the most likely trade partner.
So, dust off your history books and let’s decipher what it might take for the Jazz to ascend the rapidly steepening slope of the draft order. What would it realistically take to get a grip on the third selection, and what would that mean for Utah’s rebuild?
Looking at recent top-5 trades, the cost of a top-3 pick may not be as astronomical as initially expected. Why worry about winning the lottery when you could just trade for the rights to the top selection?
When the Mavericks traded up from the 5th pick to the 3rd in 2018, all it cost in the long term was the next season’s first-rounder, which turned out to be Cam Reddish at the 10th pick.
The year prior, Philadelphia managed to pry the first overall pick from the Celtics in a swap for their third overall pick packaged alongside a future first-round pick in either 2018 or 2019.
Sure, the trade market has seen a drastic shift over the past seven or eight years, but this is valuable information when applied to what Utah might need to exchange to make the jump.
Mock Trades for Philly’s Pick
If Utah were to mirror these previous offers, it would include dealing next season’s first-round pick to jump the line this year.
Philadelphia gets: 5th overall pick, 2026 first-round pick
Utah gets: 3rd overall pick
Sure, this is a clean break on paper, but that 2026 first-rounder is a critical piece of the grand scheme, and likely a non-starter for the Jazz. Utah could counter this offer with a conglomerate of draft picks, though if I were a GM, I’d hesitate to take $1’s worth of coins in return for my crisp $1 bill.
Still, Maxey was taken with the 21st overall pick, and if the 76ers see star potential in a later selection, they may happily accept this deal. Toss in as many second-rounders as it takes.
Philadelphia gets: 5th overall pick, 21st overall pick
Utah gets: 3rd overall pick
If the Sixers are in the market for win-now players, a swing at two excellent players in their prime — Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton — could be enticing. Sexton, a combo guard who’s shooting 40% from distance with the Jazz, would be an immediate upgrade at backup guard to Jared McCain, who Utah gets in return for this deal. Paul George would be a salary dump and a potential buyout candidate.
Philadelphia gets: Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton
Utah gets: 3rd overall pick, Paul George, Jared McCain
Do the 76ers buy into this deal? Maybe. For an All-Star-level forward and an under-the-radar valuable addition like Sexton, the Sixers get off of George’s disgusting contract and improve their championship shot overnight for the cost of the third pick. This gets messy when considering how much Philadelphia values McCain, but Sexton is an objective upgrade and still only 26 years old.
The best part of this deal? Utah retains the 5th pick, and another swing at a future piece of the championship puzzle. A likely result? Not especially, but if the Sixers’ primary objective is to win and win quickly, developing Ace Bailey is an unnecessary variable to the timeline.
To complete any trade, two parties must be satisfied. The 76ers retain the leverage in this transaction and the right to deny anything that doesn’t work in their favor. To tear the pick out of Philadelphia’s hands, the Jazz will have to part with assets of real value. Let’s see what Utah’s front office can stomach.
