When the 2022-2023 season began, it was all but assumed that the Utah Jazz would be one of the teams joining the San Antonio Spurs in the tankathon for Victor Wembanyama.
And yet, here we are near the end of the season, and the Jazz and Spurs are in very different positions. Eschewing the full-on tank, the Jazz have one of the ten worst records in the league, while the Spurs have maxed out their Wembanyama odds with the 3rd worst record and net rating that may go down as the worst in NBA history.
The result is two very different paths to the lottery, and only time will tell which team’s efforts will be rewarded accordingly.