NBA insider reveals the real reason behind John Collins' trade from 17-65 basement dwellers: "They won too often"

This week, the Utah Jazz, LA Clippers and the Miami Heat finalized a three-team deal that sent forward John Collins from Utah, which finished the 2024 season with a 17-65 record, to LA. While the team has a number of young standouts on their roster, like Ace Bailey, Walker Kessler, and Lauri Markkanen, ESPN's Tim MacMahon says the team had to get rid of Collins because he played too well.

While speaking on Wednesday's episode of "The Hoop Collective," MacMahon discussed Collins' 2024-25 season.

"He was too damn productive last season. I don't even remember all the injuries they came up with to make sure he didn't play. They limited him to 40 games last year.

"He played in 70+% of their wins. They didn't win much, but they won too often with John Collins in the lineup and he was a reason."

Collins now joins an LA Clippers team eager to make waves in the 2025-26 season. In addition to making several notable offseason moves, including the acquisition of Collins, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard worked out through the end of the NBA Finals to mimic a championship run, making his goal for the season ahead perfectly clear.

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Looking back at John Collins' comments about the Jazz resting him

As ESPN's Tim MacMahon indicated, the Utah Jazz had to find ways to sit John Collins throughout the season as they sought the best possible draft lottery odds.

At the end of the 2024-25 season, Collins spoke with members of the press about the delicate situation:

"It's a sticky situation. Something that I've never necessarily been a part of. ... Going towards respect of the game, that's like the only way I can really not think about it too much without driving myself crazy.

"Making sure I still work out when I can, lift when I can, lead, be a professional. Be as professional as I can be to respect the game, and the craft, and all the good energy I've built up. That's how I get through it, figure it out, or whatever the case may be."

In the past, Adam Silver has spoken openly about how he doesn't believe tanking is good for the league.

Because of that, there has been speculation that the league could look to implement rules to combat tanking; however, the way John Collins sees things, there will always be people who find ways to bend the rules, and because of that, he believes curbing tanking may be easier said than done.