With all the excitement after the NBA Draft Lottery, and leading up to the NBA Draft, it’s very easy to forget that there is a very fine line we must walk when it comes to our roster. After the season the Jazz just had, I know that it’s hard to imagine what a fully healthy, functional, and lethal basketball team looks like but we do have some things to consider.
With the #2 pick in this year’s draft there are HUGE implications for the upcoming season and the franchise’s future. With that incoming
rookie, there will be some shifts in the rotation that we must consider. There will be players that logged a lot of minutes for the Jazzmen last year that will not get the same kind of burn this year; it’s unfortunate, but eggs must be broken to make a championship omelet.
Even with us being so close to the NBA Draft, there hasn’t been any confirmation yet as to who the Washington Wizards will take #1 overall. With that in mind I think that, realistically, it will come down to the Jazz selecting BYU forward AJ Dybantsa or Kansas guard Darryn Peterson. While it may seem inconsequential, there are very different outcomes for each selection, and what it means for our role players that we came to know and love during this past season.
Option 1: Darryn Peterson
I think that this would be the best case scenario for everyone involved as it pertains to the rotation. My unconditional and irrational love for Isaiah Collier aside, Keyonte George is the point guard of the future for the Jazz and that means that we need a starting shooting guard. That Darryn Peterson guy? Pretty good, in my opinion.
He had an up-and-down season at Kansas marred with “injuries” or at the very least injury prevention measures, but with the report that Peterson and his team have resolved the cramping issues I don’t have any other option than to believe him. I don’t have any other choice to believe the he’s going to be healthy coming into the year, maintain that health throughout the entire 2026-2027 season, and end up on an All-Rookie team.
The most noticeable shift that would happen in the rotation would be Ace Bailey moving back to the bench, which causes a domino effect of Cody Williams, Brice Sensabaugh, and Elijah Harkless getting less minutes (assuming they all come back or don’t get traded). There were times that Williams, Sensabaugh, and Harkless were remarkable during the past season, but without the offensive upside that Peterson brings, it’s hard for me to argue that they get the same amount of (or more) minutes in good faith. Bailey is a bit of a different story.
Bailey really started to find his footing in the league during the last 20 games of the season. He averaged nearly 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 stocks (blocks + steals) a night, while shooting 36% from deep on a high volume of shots. He showed great consistency in that stretch as well; he scored in double figures in 19 of the 20 games, including three 30 point outings. In the final quarter of the season it seemed like Bailey was starting to figure the NBA game out. His defensive blunders still drove me up a wall, but his offensive feel and consistency was something to be admired. I would hate the relegate him to the bench after that kind of turnaround, but I don’t see another avenue. When compared to each other, it seems like Peterson is the more NBA level scorer, which would mean that Bailey would have to head back to the bench. He could be a great 6th man for us, though.
There is a small chance (and I mean microscopic) that we could trade Lauri Markkanen to the highest bidder, which would allow Bailey to play the small forward position, but if that trade were to happen I can’t image that it would be prior to the trade deadline. Without that certainty, I can’t imagine a world where both Bailey and Peterson get 30+ minutes a night. I think a more likely path would be for Peterson to get around 28 minutes a game, Bailey would get roughly 24 minutes a game, and Williams, Sensabaugh, and Harkless get minutes in the teens if not the single digits. As someone who has written a glowing article about Elijah Harkless it’ll be disappointing to see him not get any minutes (again, assuming he’s brought back) but I can’t say that it would be the wrong decision.
Option 2: AJ Dybantsa
I said before that it hasn’t been made clear what the Wizards will do with the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, so in the rare chance the he isn’t selected by Washington, it would make sense for the Jazz to select the BYU product. The story writes itself, and while he isn’t a “home town kid,” it would be nice to see him continue his basketball career in Utah.
His selection by the Jazz is a tad more complicated than a Peterson selection. Dybantsa can play multiple positions, but the positions that he plays the majority of the time are… a bit full at the moment. Markkanen is slated to be our starting small forward, recently acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. is slated to be our starting power forward, and while we didn’t see Dybantsa play a ton of minutes at the center spot, that position is also locked up assuming that we can re-sign Walker Kessler.
Could he play the shooting guard role and have the rest of the rotation work out like we discussed with Peterson? Sure, I guess? He isn’t exactly a natural fit, though. Standing at 6’9”, he isn’t exactly shooting guard shaped. He also, to this point in his career, doesn’t space the floor incredibly well as he shot just 33% from three last year at BYU. If anything he would be like a DeMar DeRozan shooting guard, and unless it’s suddenly the early 2010’s again, I just don’t see that leading to winning basketball.
It also wouldn’t make any sense to have Dybantsa be selected as the No. 2 pick and be put on the bench behind Markkanen or Jackson Jr. I also don’t think that it would make sense to put either of them on the bench in favor of Dybantsa. If we were to select Dybantsa it would more than likely cause a series of trades, namely a Lauri Markkanen trade. He’s been in the rumor mill recently, and he’s been connected to the Detroit Pistons. Although the Pistons have future draft capital to trade, they are in the business of winning which would make their picks mostly useless, and they don’t own the rights to any juicy picks in the future. The trade would most likely consist of a sign-and-trade for Tobias Harris plus salary filler, and multiple first round picks. To be honest, I wouldn’t hate it. It opens up the space for Dybantsa to play immediately, it doesn’t relegate Ace Bailey to the bench, it would keep the bench piece’s minutes at a manageable level, but (respectfully) the drop-off from Lauri Markkanen to Tobias Harris is pretty steep for a team that’s trying to make their way back to the playoffs.
The Jazz have been known to slow-roll their players before; Bailey came off the bench for the first 10 games or so last year, and had the Jazz had anything close to a healthy season, maybe that first start for him would have come in February instead of November. I think that doing that with Dybantsa would be very complicated, but I can’t deny how excited I would be to see a bench unit led by him. If he were to be a bench player this upcoming year, we could very well get a repeat of 2005 when Ben Gordon won the 6th Man of the Year award while being a rookie. Is it likely? No. Is it complicated? Yes. Am I glad that I’m not the one making these decisions? Yes, but I wouldn’t mind the paycheck.
The postseason is wrapping up quickly which means that the offseason fun is upon us. We’ve got a lot of great stuff in the works here at SLC Dunk so be on the lookout for that! Who do you think we should draft? Who do you have winning the NBA Finals and how long do you think it’ll be until we hoist the trophy? Sound off in the comments!
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