Buzz continues to surround the Utah Jazz as we stand just over a month from the kick off the 2024 NBA Draft.

And while the Jazz hold two first-rounders to start the draft at pick 10 and 28, a large chunk of the rumors revolving around Utah have been based on their use of their 32nd pick in the second. USC guard and son of LeBron James, Bronny James, was the most recent guard mentioned to have potential interest from the Jazz, effectively generating some hype surrounding the 19-year-old in coming to SLC.

The report inevitably made for some fun discussions of what possibilities next season could hold for the Jazz, but newly uncovered developments have seemingly brought the Bronny to Utah train to a halt.

Despite some chatter linking the Jazz with James heating up at the combine earlier this week, Sarah Todd of Deseret News reports that those rumors might be a whole lot of nothing.

“I looked into this as much as possible and although James impressed during the combine, it doesn’t seem like the Jazz are interested,” Todd said. “A number of team sources seemed confused about where the Yahoo Sports report had come from, with one source telling the Deseret News that the name Bronny James has never come up in any draft conversations among Jazz decision makers.”

Instead of looking towards the direction of Bronny towards the top of the first, the Jazz will likely turn their direction elsewhere. The USC product came out with a nice combine performance to boost his stock deeper into the second round, but Utah might not be his eventual landing spot.

In the event the Jazz don’t end up finding a prospect that they love at the top of the second, keep an eye out for a trade involving the pick. Danny Ainge remained confident that the team would remain aggressive this summer in a pursuit to improve this squad for next season, and the right move surrounding some picks down the board can effectively bring that.

All draft answers will be delivered for the Jazz when the big night officially arrives on June 26th.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Five years after transferring out of North Dakota State, a former Washington High School star is coming back to the Missouri Valley Football Conference with the chance to play his former school as well as the programs from his home state.

After four stellar seasons at Division Two South Dakota Mines, quarterback Jayden Johannsen will transfer and play his final season of eligibility with the Division FCS Murray State Racers.

At Washington Jayden was a three year starter under center for the Warriors, passing for 2100 yards and 22 touchdowns while rushing for 300 yards and five more scores, helping lead the Warriors to 33 straight wins and three 11AAA state titles.

After graduating in 2019 Johannsen initially went to NDSU but transferred to Mines after one redshirt year where he would throw for nearly 8200 yards and 74 touchdowns and run for another 1600 yards and 24 from 2020 through 2023. He was nominated in 2022 for the Harlon Hill award, Division Two’s version of the Heisman Trophy.

With the addition of Johannsen the Racers now have five quarterbacks on their roster. However, with the other four quarterbacks having combined to play only one game at the college level, Jayden’s experience gives him a good chance to be Murray State’s starting quarterback in 2024.

Should that happen it coincidentally comes in a year where the Racers will play all four Dakota schools. Jayden’s first game against a school from his home state would be against the University of South Dakota in Kentucky on October 5th. A few weeks later, on October 26th, he’d face the program he began his college career with, North Dakota State, also in Murray, Kentucky. Then a week later, on November 2nd, he’d come back to native soil for the Racers game at two-time defending FCS National Champion South Dakota State in Brookings.

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If Wyoming grizzlies are selected to repopulate Washington State’s remote North Cascades region, they might not receive a warm welcome from locals.

“They are a major, major apex predator, they are at the top of the food chain,” Omak, Washington, resident Chance Cornell told Cowboy State Daily on Friday during a brief break from his job at a local hotel and casino.

He and his wife are avid hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, but Cornell said he’s not sure how he feels about possibly running into grizzlies in the backcountry.

“Now you’re talking about a grizzly bear. I think it’s going to come with some challenges. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I don’t know,” he said.

Northeast Oregon resident Bud Ludwigson told Cowboy State Daily that Washington’s North Cascades region has long been one of his favorite hiking and backpacking destinations.

But with grizzlies moving in, he’s not sure if he’ll keep going back.

“I guess as a hiker, a backpacker and somebody who ventures into the mountains, (the presence of grizzlies) is something that scares me when I’m in Yellowstone country, Montana or Canada,” he said. “When I’m here in Oregon or in Washington, all I’ve had to worry about are black bears. But grizzlies are on a whole other level.”

Bears Will Be Flown In

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies recently green-lighted plans to reintroduce grizzlies to the North Cascades. Wyoming was named as a possible source for bears to transplant. But there’s been no final word yet on where the first batch of reintroduced grizzlies will come from.

When the reintroductions begin, possibly as soon as this summer, bears will be trucked into staging areas. The sedated grizzlies will then be placed in nets or on platforms slung under helicopters and flown to release sites in the backcountry.

Typical Concerns

Wyoming resident Rob Wallace is former U.S. assistant secretary of the Interior. He recently told Cowboy State Daily that in 2019, he went to Omak to represent the Interior Department during local public hearings regarding the grizzly reintroductions.

At the time, local resistance to the idea was strong, he said. Locals cited many of the same concerns that folks in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Colorado have about large predators such as grizzlies and wolves.

They expressed worry over grizzlies attacking cattle and possibly disrupting other existing land uses, Wallace said.

Will It Affect Tourism?

Cornell said the effects on tourism are also a concern.

“We do rely on tourism as part of the economy. There isn’t a whole lot of industry here,” he said.

“There’s hiking trails, there’s biking trails,” and people also enjoy boating and fishing, he said.

With that many people out and about, the presence of grizzlies could put a new twist on things, Cornell said.

“They’re saying, ‘Oh, this is going to work.’ But what happens when it doesn’t work?” he said.

As to whether the reintroduction of grizzly bears could hurt local tourism, “I think it might,” Cornell said. “I think it might slow down. Or, maybe I’m 100% wrong and maybe we won’t see any change in tourism at all.”

Ludwigson said he’s also worried about what could happen when grizzlies return to an area where, unlike Wyoming, people aren’t used to them.

“There are just a lot of unprepared people in those mountains,” he said.

Mixed Feelings

Cornell said he and his wife like getting outside as much as they can and hunt mule deer, whitetail deer, turkey and waterfowl.

“We are generally armed when we go to the outdoors,” he said.

However, the area where the bears will be introduced is “a national park,” where firearms aren’t allowed, he added.

“I don’t think (the grizzly reintroductions) will deter anything I’m doing. I’ve never seen a grizzly in real life out in the wild. We’ve seen some black bears. There’s something way different between a black bear and a grizzly,” Cornell said. “But where they’re going to be putting them, heck, maybe we’ll never see them.”

Ludwigson said he’s tried to consider both sides of the debate over grizzly reintroduction, but ultimately leans against the idea.

“Just as a recreationalist, I don’t support it, and I don’t want to go up there and deal with that additional threat of a much larger mammal,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.