Whether the Utah Jazz wanted it to or not, the rebuild would end this upcoming season. The Jaren Jackson Jr. trade last season was a clear sign that the Jazz would be a competitive team. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was worried that the Jazz might not lose enough games once they had Jaren Jackson Jr. Luckily, the Jazz were willing to do everything it took to lose enough games, including receiving a hefty fine, to both trade for JJJ and, hopefully, draft in the top three in this upcoming vaunted NBA Draft.

On May 10th, that’s exactly what happened, and it was a massive exclamation point to the end of the Utah Jazz rebuild.

It’s a truly massive way to end the rebuild. When this all started, the Jazz were surely hoping that at least one of these four seasons they would get lucky and jump into the top four of the draft. Last season, when the Jazz didn’t jump into the lottery, even with the worst record in the league, it felt like a huge letdown. That said, the Jazz did end up getting a prospect with incredible upside in Ace Bailey. Bailey has shown fantastic signs, but there’s still a lot of growth and consistency needed. Utah, knowing that they still needed to keep their pick, took one last shot at winning the lottery. That win could not have been sweeter with everything on the line.

Had Utah not won the lottery, you can bet they would likely have been making some sort of trade to improve the team. But now, with this upcoming draft, Utah will select a player who can be the cornerstone of an elite, winning basketball team.

Whether it’s AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, or Cam Boozer, Utah is going to have the second choice among those three players, and that player joins a core that’s already playoff-caliber. But now that they have this tier-1 prospect, the trades they make will be to mold the roster rather than try to get a cornerstone player. That means that Utah is looking to improve weaknesses rather than accumulating whatever talent they can, kind of like what happened with the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade. Jaren Jackson didn’t necessarily fit perfectly with the roster Utah had, but that wasn’t the point, they were trying to take advantage of a potential trade opportunity. But with either AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson on the roster, they are now able to evolve the roster throughout the career of their young core.

With how everything ended this season, even the most pessimistic have to be excited about what is certainly looking like the beginning of an incredible chapter in Jazz history.

SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (KUTV) — An AMBER Alert was canceled after being issued for a 9-year-old boy out of South Salt Lake.

Marie Erika Lynn Marsh, 33, was accused of abducting a 9-year-old non-family member.

The alert was issued at 5:38 p.m. It was canceled just after 6 p.m.

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SALT LAKE CITY — More fire restrictions are being added in Utah despite some recent help in its drought situation.

The Bureau of Land Management is reinstating Stage 1 fire restrictions on land it manages in Juab and Millard counties on Friday. State land managers issued a similar order for Juab and Sanpete counties, which applies to state lands and unincorporated private lands in the county.

It prohibits building or maintaining any open fire or campfires using solid fuels or any ash-producing fuel in the section of central Utah, except for fire rings or grills at developed campgrounds or day-use areas on public state lands that have a pressurized running water system.

Open fires are also permitted at permanently constructed fire pits at private residences, as long as they have a pressurized water system.

The order also bans any smoking except within a vehicle or enclosed area, as well as grinding, cutting or welding of metal, or operating or using any internal combustion engine without a spark-arresting device. Violation can result in fines, restitution fees and even jail time.

It matches several other Stage 1 restrictions already in place across the state. Most of the restrictions are located in southwest Utah, but recent restrictions have crept up into central Utah and parts of the Wasatch region, too.

Utah Fire Info maintains a list of active fire restrictions in the state.

Both new orders were signed amid some encouraging signs in Utah’s drought situation this week. The amount of extreme drought in the state dropped from 60% last week to 43% this week, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported earlier Thursday. Most of the improvement came in other parts of central Utah.

However, nearly 95% of the state remains in at least severe drought, and all other parts of the state remain in at least moderate drought. That means it’s still plenty dry for new fires.

Close to 250 different fires have been reported across the state this year, burning over 12,000 acres of land. The entire state is currently listed as having above-normal fire potential as well, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.

“As fire danger continues to increase across the region, fire managers are asking the public to use caution with any activity that could spark a wildfire,” said Kayli Guild, fire prevention and communications coordinator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.