Kyle Filipowski Goes To Utah With Pick #32 In The 2024 NBA Draft
As his professional career gets under way
Kyle Filipowski got a quick introduction to NBA reality Wednesday when he wasn’t taken in the first round of the 2024 Draft. The reality for everyone except for the absolute elite players is that you are now a commodity.
The good news for Filipowski is that he was off the board early in the second round and he went to a stable franchise in the Utah Jazz.
The Jazz are managed by Danny Ainge, who built much of the current Boston Celtics roster before departing Beantown and he’s getting a solid roster together for Utah now too.
Filipowski will be competing for minutes against Lauri Markkananen, Walker Kessler, Omer Yurtseven (his name could be an address in Mongolia), Luka Samanic and John Collins.
They won’t all stay for long. There are trade rumors about Kessler and scenarios that would send Markkanen to Boston for example, and of course, being a commodity now, it’s entirely possible that Ainge drafted Filipowski for someone else and he could be traded by the time you read this.
Assuming that he’s not though, it’s really important as a second round pick to be with a stable franchise and Utah certainly is and has been for a very long time. It’s well managed and he has a chance to do well there.
He’s very likely to spend some time in the G-League, which means he’ll be working with and learning from Steve Wojciechowski, the beloved (well in Durham anyway) former Duke point guard, who is likely to take a special interest in Filipowski.
So while he now has to prove himself in a different way, he would have had to do so no matter when he was picked. And unlike his former Blue Devil running mate Jared McCain, who is now a Philadelphia 76er, the Utah fans are likely to be quite supportive of Filipowski.
So all things considered, he’s in a great situation.
Also, former Blue Devil AJ Griffin has been traded to the Houston Rockets.