With an exciting new rookie, All-Star veterans, and a rising young core, the Jazz could take the league by storm.
There are countless reasons to believe that 2026-27 is the season when the Utah Jazz's prolonged rebuilding efforts finally bear fruit.
For starters, trading for an All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year (who's still younger than 27 at the time of this article, by the way) in Jaren Jackson Jr. at the trade deadline was a pretty strong indicator of the team's intended direction.
Dishing out two young prospects like Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. (a player the Jazz traded up to select in the previous draft class) and draft picks to the a rebuilding franchise like the Memphis Grizzlies is the universal indicator that a team is becoming a buyer, not a seller, and as such intends to build a winning roster.
No more lottery. No more losing. Synchronize your watches, gentlemen, because we're on winning time now.
And if you ask the experts at ESPN, they seem convinced that Utah will look vastly different from the team we saw dive to the bottom of the Western Conference standings last season (and the season before). In a recent NBA Summer Forecast, the Jazz are tied for first in votes to take the biggest leap in 2026-27.
It's a complete 180 on the docket for the Jazz, a team that is so sick of losing, they drafted a superstar.
The Jazz finished tied for first with the Pacers as a contender for the most improved team. Here's what ESPN had to say.
"Finishing at the bottom of the standings paid dividends for the Wizards and Jazz -- who landed the top two picks and AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, respectively -- but not for the Pacers, whose pick was top-four-protected and went to the Clippers as the No. 5 selection. That pick was part of the Ivica Zubac trade, a midseason acquisition that had a lot in common with the Jazz's trade for Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Wizards' deals for Trae Young and Anthony Davis. In each instance, the teams added proven high-end starters who could be major factors in big turnarounds after sitting most or all of the remainder of the 2025-26 season."
It's a balance of youth and experience. While the Wizards' team construction has the highest ceiling on paper, it's going to be interesting to see if both Davis can stay healthy (history suggests no) and Young can learn to play team-first basketball (again, not much to back up this possibility).
Utah, meanwhile, doesn't have the high-end talent of pedigree of Washington's stars, but has seemingly established a more reliable baseline with less potential to collapse. It'll be fascinating to compare these two sides over the years, but in the meantime, Utah has built a rock-solid foundation for a team finishing 15th in the West a season ago.
