Any hopes of the OKC Thunder landing a lottery pick from the Utah Jazz in this June's draft have all but vanished with Thursday's Jaren Jackson Jr. update.
Per NBA insider Chris Haynes, the recently acquired All-Star is expected to be shelved for the remainder of the season as he opts to undergo surgery on his left knee for "[long-term] health" reasons following the discovery of a "localized PVNS growth."
This news comes at a rather convenient time in the season, as most teams presumed to be tanking generally throw in the towel after the annual trade deadline.
Within a week since it's passing, the 18-37 Jazz find their big in-season acquisition on the verge of being shut down.
Simply put, this is no mere coincidence.
Jazz desperately trying to avoid handing over first-round pick to Thunder
As a result of the 2021 offseason salary dump trade that sent big man Derrick Favors to the Thunder, OKC holds ownership of the protected rights to Utah's 2026 first-round pick.
Of course, said protections are that if the Jazz fall into the top-eight of the lottery, they hold onto the selection and, per league rules, the debt owed to the Thunder will be officially finished.
Upon his arrival in Salt Lake City, some believed that Jackson's addition alone could be enough to keep Utah from such a finish.
After all, they had proven themselves to be a great offensive team this year, what with their sixth-best points per game (118.0) and second-best assists per game (30.1) averages at the time of the deal, though they were seemingly incapable of stopping a nosebleed, ranking dead-last in defensive rating (122.1) and opponent points per game (127.0).
With this in mind, the idea of bringing in a multi-time All-Star and recent Defensive Player of the Year winner in Jackson seemed like a great way to resolve these issues.
However, even while a full-go with Utah, a trend had been noticed by fans that head coach Will Hardy would play his big-name talents like Lauri Markkanen and Jackson during the first three quarters, only to then pull them once the fourth quarter came about in an obvious effort to lose the game.
To an an anonymous Western Conference executive who recently spoke to NBA insider Marc Stein, this is a new, creative loophole that's exploiting the tank game, noting that it's not as if the Jazz "just sit everybody," and arguing that the league "can't tell a team how to use their guys during a game."
Others, however, find it to be yet another reminder that the league's biggest problem is getting even worse.
Regardless of where one stands on the matter, at the end of the day, it's evident that the Jazz are doing everything in their power to keep their 2026 first-round pick away from the Thunder.
This update on Jackson is merely just the most recent example.