9 Best NBA Players Who Could Have Played for the Utah Jazz

In life it is said that hindsight is always 20/20.

In the National Basketball Association, it is no different.

How often have we heard of missed draft picks, bad free agents signings or trades that end up being lopsided and do not work out like they should.

One could make a list a mile long for each NBA team of all of the guys that were supposed to be the next star only to watch them end up out of the league a short time later.

With guys like Maravich, Dantley, Stockton, Malone, Griffith and Hornacek who have shaped the 
Utah Jazz and have written team history, there are many other guys that have not played for the team even though they could of.

The following list outlines some of the best players that could have played for the team, but never got the chance to.

Some are NBA All-Stars, some have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, some have won NBA Championships, and they have all helped beat the Jazz with another team.

It would be easy to list just any guy, but those on this list had a legitimate chance to join the team.

Players are not ranked or listed in any specific order.

Maurice Cheeks

Maurice Cheeks spent 15 seasons in the league and is most remembered for his play that helped the Philadelphia 76ers win an NBA Championship in 1983.

He is a four-time All-Star who averaged 11.1 points and 6.7 assists per game over the course of his career.

The New Orleans Jazz had two selections in the 1978 draft where they picked two players that combined to play 308 games in the league.

They even had the draft pick just before Cheeks was taken in the mid-second round.

After his playing career, Cheeks also went on to coach eight seasons in the league with the Trailblazers and the 76ers.

Kevin Martin

Like many teams in the league, the Utah Jazz missed out on Kevin Martin in the 2004 NBA Draft.

To make things worse for the team, they missed on him despite having three draft picks before he was selected 26th overall by the Sacramento Kings.

Martin has gone on to be a great scorer who averages 18.5 points and a couple of assists per game for the Kings and the Houston Rockets.

That season, the Jazz ended up drafting Kris Humphries, Kirk Snyder and Pavel Podkolzin.

In that same draft, teams also missed out on Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, Anderson Varejao and Trevor Ariza who were late first round or second-round selections.

Rony Seikaly

After a great college career at Syracuse, and a few seasons in the league, Rony Seikaly was involved in the Jazz trade that never was.

At the time of the trade deadline in 1998, the Jazz agreed to send Chris Morris, Greg Foster and a draft pick to the Orlando Magic in exchange for the 6'11" center.

Unfortunately for the Jazz, Seikely never reported to the team and the idea of pairing him in the front line with Karl Malone was gone.

The Jazz took back the two players they had sent away, and selected Nazr Mohammed with the pick.

Seikely played only one more season in the NBA.

Clyde Drexler

While they did pick up Jazz legend Thurl Bailey, the Utah Jazz and 12 other teams passed on a 10-time All-Star, a member of the original Dream Team and one of the greatest players in league history.

After being taken with the 14th pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, Clyde Drexler went on to complete a Hall of Fame career where he led his teams to the NBA Finals on several occasions, and won an NBA title with the Rockets.

Imagine what the Jazz would have looked like if they would have selected Drexler, John Stockton and Karl Malone in consecutive drafts.

Alex English

Although Alex English started his career in Milwaukee, the draft selection that he was chosen with had ties to the New Orleans Jazz.

The second-round pick used to take the eight-time All-Star was originally held by the New Orleans Jazz and traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Pete Maravich.

While the Jazz would not have traded Maravich for English, and they got the better end of the deal, think about how the team would have looked through the 80's with English at one of the forward positions.

English ended his career with a scoring average of 21.5 points per game, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Tony Parker

Heading into the 2001 NBA Draft the Utah Jazz were looking for a point guard and had a tough choice between two international players.

One of those, Raul Lopez, was regarded by many as the better player and the Jazz took him with the 24th pick. After watching him consistently play better than Parker in Europe, the Jazz felt they had their guy.

Four picks later, the San Antonio Spurs took Tony Parker as their point guard.

After suffering some unfortunate injuries, Lopez and the Jazz parted ways after just 113 games.

Parker has gone on to be one of the best point guards in the league, winning three NBA Championships and being named to three All-Star teams.

Last season Parker averaged 17.5 points and 6.6 assists per game.

Dominique Wilkins

Shortly after moving from New Orleans, the Utah Jazz was a struggling franchise that was having a hard time staying viable.

With the third pick in the 1982 draft, the Jazz hoped they could get a player that could turn things around for the team. They selected Dominique Wilkins from the University of Georgia.

Amid reports that Wilkins would be unhappy playing in Utah, the Jazz traded him to the Atlanta Hawks before his rookie season even started.

In return they got John Drew, Freeman Williams and cash from the Hawks. While the players did not do much for the team, the cash that was received helped the team make it through another season and avoid falling apart and out of the league.

Wilkins went on the become "The Human Highlight Film," a perennial All-Star and a Hall of Famer in 2006.

Not that it would have worked out this way, but imagine the team if they would have been able to keep Wilkins, add Clyde Drexler and still draft John Stockton and Karl Malone all in successive years.

David Thompson

David Thompson was another great player that was drafted with pick that originally belonged to the New Orleans Jazz and was traded for Pete Maravich.

The Atlanta Hawks took Thompson with the first overall selection in the 1975 draft, but he never played for the team.

Instead of joining the Hawks, Thompson went to play with the Denver Nuggets in the ABA. He later made the move with the team to the NBA during the merger of leagues.

Thompson played nine seasons, averaged 22.7 points per game for his career, and was name to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson

If the Jazz would have been able to keep this pick, would they have turned into the "Showtime Jazz," instead of LA becoming the "Showtime Lakers?"

With the first pick in the 1979 draft, the Los Angeles Lakers took Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

This pick originally belonged to the Jazz, and Magic could have been wearing the purple and gold of another team.

Instead of the Jazz using this pick, the league sent it to the Lakers for compensation for the Jazz signing veteran free agent Gail Goodrich from Los Angeles.

While Goodrich had some good seasons in New Orleans with Pete Maravich, it was nothing like the career that Magic had.

Regarded by many as the best point guard ever to play the game, Johnson was a 12-time All-Star and won five Championships in the '80s. He also held the league record for career assists until John Stockton surpassed him in 1995.

Johnson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Statistics found on basketball-reference.com