With the Jazz letting Cody Williams walk, they have now traded their lottery picks from 2023 and 2024
Late Friday night, the Utah Jazz traded Cody Williams, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Utah shipped Williams and John Konchar to the Timberwolves in exchange for Josh Green and cash considerations, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
It's a minor trade on paper, but with a bit of financial relief mixed in. The deal completes something bigger about where the Jazz stand with their roster.
Utah has now traded away its lottery pick from each of the last two drafts.
The year before Williams, Taylor Hendricks went ninth overall in 2023. Both were long-term projects the front office bet on with premium draft capital, with neither on the roster anymore.
Hendricks was the first to go, dealt to Memphis on Feb. 3 as part of a seven-player, eight-piece blockbuster that brought Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah.
The return alone wasn't the headline — Jackson was — but his inclusion, alongside Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang, Walter Clayton Jr. and three future first-round picks, signaled that the Jazz were willing to move on from a potential future cornerstone.
Williams' exit tells a similar story. He never became the long-term, potential everyday starter, and his rookie season ranks among the worst for a top-10 pick in recent memory. In his second year, Williams improved, averaging 8.8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on 46.8% shooting.
Below-average stints across Salt Lake and Las Vegas summer league reportedly sealed his fate in Utah.
Utah's rebuild has never been about protecting former top picks. General manager Justin Zanik has shown repeatedly that former lottery selections aren't untouchable just because of their draft placement.
The team was willing to trade former first-rounders for established difference-makers in Jackson Jr. or for financial and roster flexibility with Green.
Both trades netted the Jazz more than just "young developing players." The Hendricks deal was about adding a two-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year in Jackson. The Williams deal is smaller on the surface, acquiring a 3-and-D vet with an expiring contract in Green, who could be flipped again before the trade deadline.
With Hendricks and Williams gone, the identity of Utah's young core keeps shifting.
Ace Bailey becomes an even more central figure in what the front office is building. Keyonte George and the rest of the young rotation carry more of the weight than they did a season ago.
It also raises the obvious question for Jazz fans heading into another possible lottery-bound season. While the play-in seems reachable, what happens if the young core doesn't produce? Utah is still very much in the thick of its rebuild — the Jazz picked second overall in this year's draft, and Zanik has said publicly that building a sustainable core takes time.
It also means the Jazz are entering a season betting on a roster they've collected in return for what Hendricks and Williams couldn't deliver on.
