Thank You, Cody

Yesterday, Sarah Todd — the Deseret News reporter on the Utah Jazz beat — posted on X that she had been laid off. Her work was always backed by real reporting and full of things worth thinking about, and I looked forward to reading her every day. The post sent a shock through Jazz Nation and the sports journalism world, and the reaction has been enormous. Which itself tells you what kind of journalist she was. It’s a genuine loss, and I hope whatever comes next for her is even better.

And then, one more piece of sad news, back to back, and this one shook me. Cody Williams has been traded.

Cody came to the Jazz as the tenth overall pick in the 2024 draft, carrying enormous expectations: six-foot-eight with a seven-one wingspan, real athleticism, a high basketball IQ, and a brother — J-Dub in OKC — who had already shown what that bloodline could do. A wing who could contribute on both ends. He’s also a good-looking kid, and more than that, there’s a real class about him. But against all that expectation, his rookie year was a complete non-event, and he got savaged as one of the worst busts in recent memory. I had backed him with everything I had, and watching him play like someone thrown onto a battlefield and left blinking in the noise, I was deeply disappointed.

Year two started, and through the end of the calendar year there was still essentially nothing. Is this really how it ends? Somebody wake me up from this. And then the situation flipped. Early in the new year — against Golden State, I think? my memory is hazy — Cody threw down a poster dunk, and from that moment everything changed. He played with belief, hammering dunks seemingly every night, and the newborn-fawn version of him vanished like it had never existed. Once the team shifted into full tank mode, he started showing some on-ball creation too — you could see a path to him being a third handler behind Key and Collier. His shot, coming out of that strange release, was as unreliable as ever, and he launched airballs at a rate that made you wince. But he contributed real defense, and year two left me holding a faint hope: keep developing him properly and he might not be a star, but he could absolutely become a rotation player who helps you on both ends.

Then came the offseason. DP joined the team, and Summer League arrived with all that anticipation. In the Salt Lake City games, Cody showed more growth — better handle, better playmaking, shot still shaky, but my excitement for year three just kept stacking up. Then Summer League moved to Las Vegas. First opponent: the Washington Wizards. The number one pick against the number two pick, AJ versus DP, with the whole country watching. AJ Dybantsa looked exactly like what a first overall pick should look like — a monster. DP put up numbers, even if the process wasn’t pretty. But the real tragedy of that game was Cody. He drew the assignment on AJ, and he was, in the most literal sense, demolished. Bumped off his spots, blown by on the drive, visibly stripped of every ounce of confidence. He looked like something inside him had broken, and from that point on he simply disappeared from the Summer League — present on the floor, absent from the game.

I was worried out of my mind. The Jazz roster is deep enough now that you could fairly call it a logjam. Play like that and you will not get minutes. But he has everything you can’t teach. Develop him right and he becomes a good player. And yet the minutes are so limited. The G League isn’t going to develop him either. You are in a very tough spot, Cody. And then, unfortunately, today came. The front office made its decision. And I understand the team’s reasoning. You get Josh Green — a good defender, a high-percentage three-point shooter (on low volume, admittedly), a player you can count on to a reasonable degree — and you move on from a young man who has the raw tools but is still years away, with a rookie extension that was going to be a hard call, and you give yourself some breathing room on the cap. For a team trying to win a title, that is correct roster building. I know that. I’m not arguing with the decision.

I’m just going to miss the guy.

Cody, I’ll be cheering for you wherever you play. I hope with all my heart that the new place is where it happens for you. What you need is belief in yourself!