Trade targets: All 30 teams
Utah Jazz
Record: 25-25
8th in West
Status: Buyers
Though Utah is just a game up on the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs, simulations using ESPN's Basketball Power Index show the Jazz as a heavy favorite to land a playoff spot. In fact, Utah ends up winning more games on average than the seventh-place Houston Rockets and as many as the Dallas Mavericks, currently in sixth.
The Jazz's plus-1.5 point differential is better than those of Houston (minus-1.4), Dallas (minus-0.9) and even the fifth-place Memphis Grizzlies (minus-1.2). And Utah has lost the league's second-most wins above replacement player to injuries (4.7), according to my tracking, another reason to expect better play the rest of the season.
So the Jazz are surely more buyers than sellers, especially since there's little they would want sell on their youthful roster (fourth-youngest in the NBA based on age weighted by minutes played, and youngest among teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today).
