Report: John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton are ‘prime’ trade candidates

The Utah Jazz are in a major rebuild at the moment. At 4-15, the team could very well end up in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Considering it’s arguable as to whether the Jazz are trying to win games right now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that three of the team’s veteran players — John Collins, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson — all reportedly stand out as “prime” candidates to be traded between now and the trade deadline, which is scheduled for Feb. 6.

“The leaguewide presumption about the Jazz nonetheless persists that Collins — like fellow veterans Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton — is a prime candidate to be dealt between now and the Feb. 6 trade deadline by Jazz CEO Danny Ainge,” Marc Stein wrote. “Collins, though, learned how to cope with such chatter and uncertainty through numerous transactional cycles after landing his Atlanta deal and, to his credit, has been a source of consistency (and efficiency) for a team that is known to be prioritizing draft position above all this season as Utah plots its course to build out a sustainable core around star forward Lauri Markkanen.”

Collins might be playing the best basketball of the three Jazz veterans who could be up for grabs in the coming months. He’s averaging the most points (17.8) and rebounds (8.8) of the trio while shooting the ball with solid accuracy from the floor. To this point, 53.5 percent of his shots from the field and 35.3 percent of his 3s have found the bottom of the net in his second season in Utah.

Sexton is playing at a high level for the Jazz as well. He entered the NBA with a reputation as a stingy defender, but he’s probably been more impactful on the offensive side of the ball during his time in the pros. So far in his third season as a member of the Jazz, he’s averaging 17.0 points per game and having a career year from deep, as he’s shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range.

If there’s one player of the three who might have seen his trade value take a dip since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, it’s Clarkson.

The veteran guard has been one of the better bench scorers in the NBA for a long time, though he is shooting career-low percentages from the field and from deep across 13 games played. He also hasn’t taken the floor for the Jazz since the team’s win over the New York Knicks on Nov. 23 due to a foot injury.

It should be interesting to find out whether any of Collins, Sexton and Clarkson will still be playing for the Jazz after the trade deadline. If Stein’s report is of any indication, fans of the Jazz should expect the team to be active in the trade market in the near future.