Rumour: The Utah Jazz Could Trade For Chris Paul In A Blockbuster Trade Centered Around Mike Conley. How Does Utah Benefit?

After a shocking first-round performance by Donavan Mitchell in the 2020 NBA playoffs, the Utah Jazz has been gifted with their next franchise player to bring them their first championship in franchise history. Even though the 2019-20 season had plenty of downfalls for not just the NBA but the entire world, the Utah Jazz experienced the greatest surplus of drama after Rudy Gobert’s insensitive actions towards the COVID-19 protocols. Yet, the Jazz managed to break through their differences and, as a result, took the Denver Nuggets to seven games and lost! Donovan Mitchell averaged record-breaking numbers and would make the top headlines, but unfortunately, his dominance on the basketball court came to a shocking end after blowing a 3-1 lead. To make matters worse, the rest of the roster failed to bring their A-game on various occasions, except for Rudy Gobert. The Jazz should have defeated the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA playoffs however failed due to the lack of the supporting cast between the two stars of both teams. While Denver was consistent with their rotational performance, Utah was lacklustre as players such as Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, and Bojan Bogdanovic, who were key assets on the offensive end, all failed to make a consistent impact. Some games, Mike Conley, would be solid, while in other games, NBA fans questioned why he was offered a max contract! 

Despite the disappointing loss, Utah’s future is bright and are still playoff contenders if they make the correct changes. Their first mistake was assuming that Mike Conley would be their third star to take them to the NBA Finals. When the NBA season started, many analysts and NBA fans felt strong about the Utah Jazz’s potential and even suggested that this team could make it to the Conference Finals or the NBA Finals! Although this could have happened, the reason why it didn’t was due to a lack of a reliable secondary scoring option behind Donovan Mitchell. While other players such as Victor Oladipo, Jrue Holiday, and Bradley Beal have all surfaced as being available for trade this off-season, here is why the Utah Jazz should pursue Chris Paul and no one else! 

One of the aspects that led Utah into oblivion towards the end of the first-round is the lack of a reliable second scoring option behind their star. Although Mike Conley was a border-line All-Star in his prime, injuries sidelined throughout his career and, as a result, was never given the opportunity to broadcast his incredible talent. The Memphis Grizzlies eventually had to depart ways with the potential All-Star and received a notable package that would lead to a different trade in landing Justice Winslow. However, Utah built optimism in Conley and hoped he would be a healthy and reliable contributor towards their success. However, this has not been the case. Instead of propelling the Jazz to greater success, Conley played poorly this season and struggled to remain healthy. On the other hand, Chris Paul was viewed as a “bad teammate” and “washed up” had one of his greatest and most memorable seasons of his career as he became an All-Star while leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to an unexpected playoff appearance. Not only did Paul prove the doubters wrong, but he also appeared to be the happiest he has ever been in his entire NBA career!

With such an exhilarating performance by Paul this season, the Utah Jazz should consider trading for him rather than keeping what they already have. For the last several seasons, the Jazz has been viewed as a young promising team that is only a piece or two away from becoming a Finals contender. Chris Paul, who has resurrected his career, proved that he could once again lead a team to the playoffs while being a positive mentor to the next generation of superstars in the NBA. Although Paul is getting old, his new diet and mentality towards basketball are indicators that he is far from declining and is only progressing as a different kind of player. Instead of being the face of a franchise, Paul has taken a step-down statistically and replaced it with aggression and mentorship towards the rest of his teammates. Players such as Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Dennis Shroder, Luguentz Dort, and Darius Bazley have either improved dramatically or made a name for themselves due to how impactful Chris Paul’s leadership is. The Utah Jazz needs a player like this to find success in the playoffs. With Chris Paul’s mentorship and leadership to young players such as Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, and even Emmanuel Mudiay, the Utah Jazz would be a top-three seed in the Western Conference. This team possesses all the tools to be successful except for a vocal leader and a mentor to some young players. OKC’s roster quickly matured with Chris Paul; imagine what Chris could do with a team known as one of the best teams in the NBA! 

While this could come true in the off-season, let’s take a look at what the Utah Jazz would offer the Oklahoma City Thunder! 

Oklahoma City Offer: Chris Paul and Abdel Nader ( The Thunder would have to accept his team-option for this trade to work). 

Utah Jazz Offer: Mike Conley, Tony Bradley, Ed Davis and a future unprotected first-round pick.  

The Utah Jazz is a piece or two away from being title contenders in the Western Conference. Trading for Chris Paul is a must if they want to be ahead of the rise of the Western Conference. Since the 2016 NBA season, the West has grown with talent at a staggering rate; hence why playing in the Western Conference has more risk than reward. Virtually every team in the West has an argument to make the playoffs, thus why this trade needs to happen if the Jazz wants a significant advantage. The only downside to this trade is that Chris Paul is an overpaid player, limiting the Jazz from signing other rotational players unless they trade Bojan Bogdanovic, who is making 17 million dollars a season. With a three-headed monster of Donovan Mitchell, Chris Paul, and Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz will finally have the player they thought Mike Conley would have been. Furthermore, the defensive possibilities of the Utah Jazz would propel this team closer to an NBA championship!