Zach Lowe

Ryan Smith is a big booster at BYU.

He was in high school, I think, for Utah Prep.

Yeah, for at least a year.

And so there was this immediate like, oh, my God, would the Jazz make like a godfather offer to the Wizards to move up one spot in the draft and guarantee that the Bansa is there?

My very early sense from talking to people around the league last night all over the league was like, I don't think Utah is going to operate like that.

I don't think they're going to be reckless just to get that guy in the door.

If he falls to them, great.

If they really want him and they're getting just held hostage,

It's a tough decision.

I mean, it's very early, but they did not seem to me like, oh, we're desperate to go get this.

Not that they're going to seem like that anyway, but I think they're just going to be happy to take who's ever there.

The other thing with Utah is Carlos Boozer works for the Jazz in the front office and Cam Boozer is going to be.

in conversation for, you know, a top three, top four pick.

That's another fun little variable.

But I get the sense that, like, look, obviously both of these teams will listen to everything that comes to them, including, you know, there was, like, I just randomly, like, Utah obviously made a big win-now move last season or win-semi-later move, I guess, by trading for Jaron Jackson Jr.

Keontae George is, like, a rising, perhaps, all-star guard.

Markkinen is an all-star.

They got to figure out Walker Kessler.

They want to re-sign him for sure.

You could make the argument that Utah is a strong trade down, trade down a little bit in the lottery, get another veteran player in the door, because I do think they want to get one more decent rotation guy.