Explaining the Jazz’s protections on draft pick that was traded to OKC
The Jazz still owe the Thunder a first-round pick … for now
This article was first published as the Jazz Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Friday.
This newsletter comes to you as a response to a reader email I received, which read as follows:
“Sarah, the Jazz owed the Thunder a draft pick, which was top-10 protected. But since the Jazz are getting the 10th pick in the draft, what does that mean? Do we still owe them a pick? Does it still have the same protections every year?”
The reason the Utah Jazz owe the Oklahoma City Thunder a draft pick in the first place is because they needed to give the Thunder something of value for taking on the Derrick Favors contract back in 2021. Yes, that is what really happened, you are reading that correctly. The Jazz gave up a top-10-protected pick to get rid of Favors.
This year, they avoided giving up that pick. But that does not mean the trade obligation is gone. The Jazz still owe OKC a pick … for now. Since the pick did not convey in 2024, it still has the same top-10 protections in 2025. If it still does not convey, it becomes a top-eight protected pick in 2026. If it still has not conveyed to OKC, the obligation extinguishes.
Through the 2023-24 season, there’s no doubt that the first-round pick owed to OKC provided a guiding incentive for the Jazz. Since they didn’t show that they would be good enough to really move the needle past play-in contention, the front office made trades and rested players in a way that led to keeping the pick.
Be the first to comment