By: James Hansen
Outside of drafting two hall-of-famers in a row in John Stockton and Karl Malone, the Utah Jazz jumping to #2 in the 2026 could be considered the second-best stroke of luck in franchise history. But it’s so much more than simply jumping in the lottery. If we’re just looking at that in a vacuum, it probably doesn’t have more gravitas than drafting Deron Williams #3 overall and getting Carlos Boozer in restricted free agency or Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert being drafted somewhat close together. It’s the moves that led up to jumping to #2 that make it that much more impactful. Those moves included:
