5 winners and losers from the Ricky Rubio trade to the Utah Jazz

Loser: Utah Jazz

After already making Rubio feel bad for leaving his situation with the Timberwolves to join the Jazz, it only makes sense to add in the Jazz themselves as a loser in this deal.

The Jazz are in a sort of panic mode at the moment, with free agency opening up just a few hours after this deal was confirmed and not a whole lot going their way at the moment. They are currently all-in on trying to get Gordon Hayward to return to their lineup after a year that he helped lead the Jazz to the postseason and a first-round win over the Clippers.

While they put all their resources on working to get Hayward back in Utah, all while fending off the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat in the Hayward sweepstakes, they’re not exactly putting their names in the hat for any other big additions. The Rubio deal helps to add some talent to their roster to help persuade Hayward to come back, but it isn’t a huge addition that would be truly earth-shattering.

Meanwhile, if they were to lose Hayward, the Rubio deal doesn’t help them in the sense of replacing one talent with another. As mentioned earlier, Rubio isn’t a true offensive threat and won’t match the talent that Hayward would give them in a return to the team.

If they lose out on Hayward and only get Rubio out of the pursuit, they’re likely looking at a drop out of postseason contention, as well as a lost first-round draft pick in the draft.