During the weeks leading up to this year’s NBA Draft, there’s been a bit of lingering chatter across the league linking the Utah Jazz to an aggressive move up the board with the Philadelphia 76ers–– effectively giving the Jazz a top-three pick in the draft and a premier choice at their next young prospect, while Philadelphia can claim a few more assets in return while moving a couple of spots down.
At the very least, it’s been an intriguing scenario to draw up for both teams ahead of the draft later this month, but in the eyes of NBA insider Tony Jones of The Athletic, it might not be a move that gains a ton of traction for the Jazz.
Instead, Jones may see a better possibility, and perhaps a more likely possibility, that the Jazz would look at a move to the second-overall spot with the San Antonio Spurs, rather than pick three.
“I don’t see them trading up to three, because three is kind of the same tier of players as five is,” Jones said in an interview with Yossi Gozlan on the Third Apron podcast. “If I were the Jazz, and I were trading up, I’d be trying to trade up to two, and try to get a definitive potential future franchise piece in Dylan Harper. I think you could see the Jazz doing something like that.”
I’ll be discussing the Utah Jazz upcoming offseason with @tjonesonthenba shortly on a live Third Apron podcast.
Join us at 5 PM ET/2 PM PT!
Chat: https://t.co/EsSfehj3Rrhttps://t.co/Hy5MSlrYCM— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) June 12, 2025
While a bold move to two certainly can’t be counted out, it’s easy to see why, from the Jazz’s perspective, a small move up to three and forfeiting assets to the 76ers, might not make sense, if picks three through five are all viewed similarly in the mind of Utah’s scouts and front office.
Looking atop the board, Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper seem all but locked in as the top two selections later this month, but beyond that is where things get a little more uncertain.
Ace Bailey and VJ Edgecombe likely fall in that next tier of top-rated guys and could easily go three and four, but others like Kon Knueppel, Tre Johnson, and Jeremiah Fears are all in that mix to jump ahead of either Bailey or Edgecombe as well.
For the Jazz, of course, everything is on the table, but if a move for two isn’t in the cards, the more likely outcome could be for Utah to stand pat at number five and take the highest-rated player on their board. Or, if this front office wants to do something even more out of left field, trade down.
Needless to say, it’ll be a compelling few days ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft for both the Jazz and the rest of the league, set to kick off on Wednesday, June 25th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
