Month: June 2025

ESPN analyst says Ace Bailey was hoping to avoid Utah at all costs: “This was not one of his preferred destinations” originally appeared on Basketball Network.

The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is officially behind us. Cooper Flagg went No. 1 to Dallas, as everyone expected. There weren’t any major shakeups at the top, no last-second trades or blockbuster picks to derail the board, at least not until we got to No. 5.

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That’s when things got interesting, to say the least.

Ace Bailey, the ultra-talented Rutgers wing who’d spent the past year projected as a sure-shot top-three pick and, at one point, even made a serious case for going No. 2, unexpectedly slid down the draft board. It wasn’t just about his game, at least not for the most part.

The buzz leading up to draft night was that Bailey’s camp had discouraged or outright declined workouts with several teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 3. That move sparked speculation that Bailey had been given some sort of assurance that he is going to one of his preferred destinations, namely the Washington Wizards.

Bailey’s reaction spoke more than a thousand words

When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced the Utah Jazz were selecting Bailey with the fifth pick, the room didn’t exactly explode with celebration. In fact, the broadcast cameras quickly caught Bailey’s face and let’s just say he didn’t look thrilled to be heading to Salt Lake City.

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ESPN’s Jonathan Givony didn’t sugarcoat the moment either. Shortly after the pick was made, he gave a straightforward explanation of the situation.

“This was not one of his preferred destinations… Utah… He was hoping to get to either Washington, New Orleans or Brooklyn,” the ESPN analyst said with a touch of surprise.

The Buffalo Sabres moved on from right winger JJ Peterka in a three-player trade with the Utah Mammoth.

Buffalo traded Peterka, 23, to the Mammoth in exchange for defenseman Michael Kesselring and right winger Josh Doan. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman were among those who reported the trade before the teams announced it Wednesday night.

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Peterka also signed a five-year contract with an average annual value of $7.7 million, Utah announced.

“J.J. is a highly skilled, creative, young forward with extremely high upside,” Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong said in a press release. “He will help solidify our scoring and add to what is already a great young core of forwards on the roster. Signing J.J. to a long-term extension is another positive step towards building a sustainable contender here in Utah, and today is an exciting day for our entire organization.”

Before the trade, Peterka was a pending RFA for the Sabres, coming off his third full NHL season. He had a career-high 68 points this past season, recording 27 goals and 41 assists. He was also among the first six players added to Germany’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

With this new contract, Peterka is signed through the 2029-30 season, after which he’ll be 29 years old and a UFA.

Acquiring Peterka adds to the Mammoth’s group of young forwards. Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Barrett Hayton, Matias Maccelli and Jack McBain are 25 or younger. Even captain Clayton Keller is only 26.

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As for the Sabres, they received another 23-year-old in Doan and a 25-year-old D-man in Kesselring.

This past campaign was Doan’s first full season in the NHL. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native scored seven goals and 19 points in 51 games for Utah. He carries a $925,000 cap hit and is entering the final year of his entry-level contract.

Kesselring is entering the final year of a two-year contract worth $1.4 million per season. In his first 82-game NHL season, he scored seven goals and added 22 assists for 29 points in 82 contests. Kesselring also averaged 17:41 of ice time per game and ended the campaign with a plus-four rating.

“In general, you’re always going to say that you’d love to have a good depth on the D,” Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said earlier on Wednesday in a press conference before the trade. “Especially, right-shot D are hard to come by.”

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When Wesley Sundquist first started researching the human immunodeficiency virus — HIV — he wasn’t seeking out a treatment.

Rather, the chair of the University of Utah’s Department of Biochemistry in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine said he and his team were interested in the virus molecules’ capsids — their shells holding genome material the virus needs to reproduce.

But last week, decades after Sundquist first started his HIV research in the early ‘90s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved lenacapavir, a drug Gilead Sciences created using his findings, for HIV prevention.

According to researchers, the drug can be administered to people once every six months to significantly reduce their chances of contracting HIV. According to the World Health Organization, one test proved the drug effective at preventing HIV in cisgender women when none of 2,138 participants given the drug were infected. A second trial, according to WHO, was conducted with cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women and gender nonbinary people who have sex with male partners. The organization reported that 99.9% of the participants given lenacapavir were not infected with HIV.

Sundquist said the unusual cone shape of HIV molecules’ capsids spawned his interest.

“We really didn’t know what we were going to find,” he said. “We were genuinely curious about how proteins could make a cone, and also that it was important medically. … We didn’t know where this was going to end.”

His and other research teams found that the virus cannot replicate if the conical capsid is unstable. The drug, he explained, bonds to the capsid and destabilizes it.

“It’s the structure itself — it actually breaks,” he said, comparing it to cracking a glass of liquid to have the contents drain out.

He credited Gilead for their interest in his findings as “they were the ones who sort of thought we should take a chance on this as a drug target” when most companies did not share t perspective.

Lenacapavir was awarded Science magazine’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year. Sundquist, Gilead virologist Tomas Cihlar and former Gilead medicinal chemist John O. Link received the 2025 Warren Alpert Prize. And Sundquist and Cihlar were on the list of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. Although the awards didn’t start flowing until fairly recently, he stressed that it’s been a long process.

For Sundquist and other researchers, he said, “it was breakthrough of the year 25 years ago, not this year. But of course it just takes time to discover things and then translate them and then test them clinically.”

Even as professionals celebrate what lenacapavir could mean for the future of HIV and AIDS, Sundquist said he worries that the drug built off of his discovery might not reach the people who need it most.

While lenacapavir is being sold in the United States under the brand name Yeztugo, Gilead has allowed six pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell generic versions of the drug “subject to required regulatory approvals, in 120 high-incidence, resource-limited countries, which are primarily low- and lower-middle income countries.”

But Sundquist does worry that the U.S. program that could help the drug get there — the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, launched during the George W. Bush administration — is at risk of losing its resources as the Trump White House slashes foreign aid and medical funding.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that the Trump administration asked Congress to rescind $400 million that had been allocated to help assist with the global HIV epidemic. The administration said it would cut “only those programs that neither provide life-saving treatment nor support American interests.”

According to nonprofit medical policy analysis group KFF — formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation — the administration has limited current PEPFAR activities to only treating and caring for the HIV-infected, preventing mother-to-child transmission, administering pre-exposure medicine to pregnant and breastfeeding women and HIV testing.

“That program is in danger,” said Sundquist, who specified his views are his own and not the university’s. “It feels fragile that just at a time when we have this brand new tool that actually prevents people from getting infected by HIV, it may not be broadly distributed.”

Moreover, he stressed his research’s dependence on long-term funding from the National Institutes of Health, from which the Trump administration has cut more than $12 billion of funding in terminated research grants and contracts since the beginning of the year, as reported by Reuters. Without the assurance of funding over multiple years, Sundquist said he doesn’t think his team’s discovery would have been possible.

“We just couldn’t have done our work. … We started in ‘92, we finished about 2004, so that’s 12 consecutive years of being funded by the NIH,” he said.

And though HIV infection is not as prevalent or threatening as the AIDS epidemic was in the ‘90s, he emphasized that HIV is still a big problem. In 2023 alone, 1.3 million people were newly infected with the virus globally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sundquist said he hopes lenacapavir’s future global distribution isn’t unfunded before the drug — and his research — can reach those who need it.

The Echo Canyon development west of Moab — recently renamed from Kane Springs Preservation and Development — has become the first project in Utah to be certified as a preliminary municipality with limited self-governance under a new state law.

The Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office approved the certification June 9, granting developers temporary zoning and land-use authority through a legal status known as a “preliminary municipality.” Created under Senate Bill 258, the designation allows landowners to govern land use, approve infrastructure plans and begin development without local government oversight.

The authority lasts for up to six years — or four years after the first certificate of occupancy is issued — and is intended as a transitional phase before potential full incorporation. To become a town, the area must reach 100 permanent residents and win approval in a local incorporation election. If those conditions are not met, governance reverts to Grand County.

At the same time, developers are continuing to pursue traditional county approval. Grand County conditionally approved a preliminary plat for the project in March, triggering a 12-month deadline to submit a final plat that meets all county requirements. The dual-track strategy gives the developers flexibility to move forward even if delays or challenges arise in the county process.

The developers first filed for certification in March under the name Echo Canyon. State officials rejected the petition in May after determining that the legal boundary descriptions did not match those used in the required feasibility study.

The mismatch occurred because the developers had updated their maps based on a more detailed survey completed during the county’s plat review. Because state law requires the petition to match the original feasibility study boundaries exactly, they resubmitted the petition May 20 using the original coordinates.

On June 17, the Grand County Commission appointed Commission Vice Chair Melodie McCandless as the fifth and final member of Echo Canyon’s new governing board. The other four members, listed in the certified petition, are developers Craig Weston, Thomas Gottlieb, Trent Arnold and Jonathan Hoffman.

Commissioner Mary McGann, who made the nomination during the June 17 meeting, said McCandless was well suited for the role because of her balanced approach and strong work ethic.

“Melodie, probably [more than] all of us sitting around this board, has shown to be more middle of the road, looking at things different ways,” McGann said.

McCandless, whose district encompasses the development, acknowledged the position’s sensitivity given the community’s strong feelings about the project but said she was willing to step into the role.

“It’s a hard spot to fill with all the controversy in our community around it,” she said. “I am kind of the middle of the road person and I would do it. It’s a little scary but I’ll learn a lot, just like I have been.”

The certification is just the first of four applications in Utah pursuing approval as preliminary municipalities under SB 258, according to the Lt. Governor’s Office.

A state-commissioned feasibility study released in January found the proposed 176‑acre development could support essential municipal services through projected tax revenue and population growth. A public hearing held March 5 at Star Hall drew more than 230 attendees and over 30 public comments — most of them opposing the project. Speakers raised concerns about flood risk, infrastructure demands, housing affordability and financial impacts on Grand County.

Under SB258, feasibility studies must assume the development will be built as proposed and do not evaluate whether it is viable, appropriate or likely to succeed. Preliminary municipalities also lack taxing authority and must rely on private funding until incorporation is finalized.

To counteract the law’s impact, Rep. Mike Kohler, R-Midway, introduced HB540 during the last legislative session to stop the creation of any additional preliminary municipalities. The bill passed the House but died without a vote in the Senate.

The Echo Canyon project spans 176 acres along Kane Creek Boulevard southwest of Moab. Current plans include 478 residential units, 102 overnight accommodations and 67,000 square feet of commercial space. At least 10% of the housing units are required to be designated as affordable under SB258, though critics have questioned the enforceability of that requirement.

Developers have previously said they are pursuing both state and county approval to determine which path allows the project to move forward.

The county-level process has faced delays over several years. Developers first submitted a preliminary plat application in 2021, but it was delayed by zoning appeals, multiple rounds of revisions and infrastructure planning issues. In 2024, the county approved a conditional use permit for the project’s wastewater system after developers appealed a prior denial.

Echo Canyon has also faced criticism due to its location in a floodplain. Developers obtained a FEMA Letter of Map Revision after elevating portions of the site by four to 12 feet, but opponents argue that it does not ensure long-term flood protection. Many residents and advocacy groups, including Kane Creek Development Watch, have raised concerns about the project’s environmental impacts, infrastructure burden and housing affordability.

This story was first published by The Times-Independent.

The Utah Jazz have a big day tomorrow, and I’m up late thinking about the different rumors and trade possibilities going on. There are a lot of things that it takes to get to the top. Probably the biggest one is luck. It takes luck to win the lottery, even with the worst record in the league. It takes luck to find players later in the draft who become more than anyone expected. It takes luck to trade for a castoff rookie that develops into an MVP.

Utah needs luck tomorrow. They need things to shake out in a way that gets them a player who could potentially become a star. Who knows exactly who that player is outside of Cooper Flagg? No one knows for sure; otherwise, the draft would be clear-cut without any questions from the three-pick on.

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But there’s one other element this team needs to hold onto that all great teams have.

Grit.

It’s going to take time to win a title, but it can happen. The Thunder and Pacers proved that with smart moves and patience to build your core, you can make it happen over the big-market teams. Both the Thunder and Pacers had a lot of luck, but they also had the patience and grit to stay the course even when things didn’t work out perfectly.

The grit and patience Utah needs will show up in their continued course of drafting talent. It doesn’t mean Utah doesn’t make trades of players that don’t pan out like they hope, but it does mean not making rash, win-now moves for short-term feel-good wins, which eventually lead to long-term disappointment. Each top pick they make will be an accumulation that ultimately leads to contention, but this doesn’t work if Utah cuts things short.

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The question for Ryan, Austin, Danny, Justin, and the whole front office is: Do you believe in this thing or not? Do you actually believe the Jazz can win a title? If you do, then it’s going to take grit, patience, and hard work. And maybe they already are doing it. Maybe their firing two scouts who made bad choices was them doubling down on their plan. I hope so. I can’t help but think of this scene from Moneyball. It’s after Billy Bean has chosen a radical course of going all in on OBP, and things that he had initially planned didn’t work perfectly. But he doubled down on the plan he believed in.

With the NBA Draft almost here, the rumors and smokescreens are going to heat up with each passing hour. To make sure and keep track, I’ll keep everything right here. Make sure to check regularly because we’ll keep each rumor here.

As of right now, on FanDuel, Tre Johnson has the best odds to be drafted by the Utah Jazz at #5. We’ll see if that holds up as the night moves along.

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Now, here are the latest rumors happening…

The Utah Jazz are considered a team to watch as one of the “movers and shakers” in the Draft

Shams Charania was on TV and said this about the Utah Jazz.

Considering Charania is the biggest news breaker in the NBA, it’s something to pay attention to. Charania goes on to mention John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson as players that could be of interest to other teams.

Will the Utah Jazz make a move with one of those players? If they do, what would it be for?

More from slcdunk.com:

Molly Hart’s new seat at the Utah State Board of Education monthly meetings is just a few steps from the one she previously occupied — but much has changed in recent weeks for the veteran educator.

For over four years, Hart was a USBE member, most recently serving as its vice chair. Now she’s sitting in the board room seat reserved for the state superintendent of public instruction.

Hart jokes that she’s simply trying to inch closer and closer to the board room’s thermostat. But her goals and objectives as the USBE’s newly appointed chief executive officer go far beyond board room climate control.

She’s now been on the job as superintendent for a couple of weeks, fueled by an exhaustive energy that’s to be expected at a moment of historic disruption in education happening in Utah and across the country.

“I feel very lucky and privileged to be able to serve in this way,” she told the Deseret News. “But I’m also tired. I want to do all the things — but most of all, I want to listen and learn.

“I am trying to be in as many positions or places that I can where I can listen and learn.”

Message to educators: Never stop learning

Succeeding Sydnee Dickson as Utah’s top K-12 education administrator was not listed on Hart’s career agenda when the Michigan native relocated to the Beehive State in 2012 to be the principal of Sandy’s Mount Jordan Middle School and, later, at Albion Middle School.

“I didn’t expect to be in Utah for a long time,” she said. “We thought it was a stop along the way.”

But the Republican’s tenure across multiple corners of Utah’s public education community now offers her insights from within the classroom, the principal’s office and the school board meeting room.

She’s been a teacher and an administrator at both a traditional public school and a charter school. Most recently, she served as the executive director of Summit Academy, a K-12 charter school with multiple campuses in Salt Lake County.

Hart’s also an avid quilter and reader, and relishes any opportunity to polish her golf game on one of Utah’s links.

But despite her wide professional background, Hart remains in perpetual learning mode for all things K-12 education. “The minute you step out of the classroom or out of a school, you really are obsolete,” she said. “If you don’t keep listening to the people that are still in those positions, then you’re done.

“You have to keep your ear to the ground and listen. Things change so quickly, and the realities of the classroom in the school are so complicated that if you think that you understand them just because you’ve been there before, you won’t be effective.”

Changes in Utah classrooms are happening in rapid, real time, she agreed. And they typically reflect what’s happening in society.

“It’s no small coincidence that we’re seeing (classroom) issues with behavior — and we’re also seeing issues of unrest in communities,” she said. “There’s a connection there. So as we at USBE are here to support and lead the public school system in Utah, you have to take the realities under consideration.”

So what’s keeping Superintendent Hart up at night?

Hart’s optimistic about the emerging opportunities for Utah’s school kids. But she acknowledges the challenges.

Counted among those challenges are classroom misbehavior, chronic absenteeism and local boards trying to determine how to meet the diverse needs and expectations of their respective communities.

“We don’t have the luxury of having a defined, narrow understanding of what a school should look like or what a school should accomplish — and because of that, it’s challenging,” she said.

“It’s challenging our boards, our principals, our teachers and our communities to make decisions, and it’s hard.

“And that’s why you see things like school choice, because we don’t have agreement.”

Hart: Don’t fear school choice

It’s impossible to examine K-12 education across the country today and not encounter spirited debates on school choice and attendant issues such as vouchers and charter schools. Those debates in Utah are happening on Capitol Hill, in the courtrooms and, of course, in Utahns’ kitchens and living rooms.

But Hart’s not afraid of school choice. It’s a reflection, she said, of the freedoms valued in American society. “Choice, when managed, is something that can strengthen the system. Choice is opportunity.”

She defends parents’ rights to choose an option outside of state-funded education.

“But for any child or family in Utah, I want the public education opportunities and choices to be absolutely top notch.”

Hart added that school choice is rarely nonlinear for Utah students. Many kids now being homeschooled will likely be enrolled in a traditional public school or charter school at some point. Others might move between schools to best meet their respective needs.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that there are different options for different families at different stages and in different situations — and to make sure that all of those options are exemplary.”

“Choice,” she added, “doesn’t scare me.”

Managing changes to the U.S. Education Department

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking the elimination of the Education Department and pledged to move all things education “back to the states where it belongs.”

And earlier this month, the department’s 2026 budget request included billions of dollars to be cut from its 2025 appropriation.

Trump has vowed that traditionally funded education programs such as Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would continue to serve students from low-income families and those with special needs.

But some worry changes to the federal agency will harm Utah students.

Hart is attuned to the educational disruptions happening in Washington, D.C., but she views them as opportunities for improved services for Utah schools. “I have never seen a problem that was better solved further from the actual boots on the ground. So I believe that there are some opportunities if, in fact, the U.S. Department of Education closes.”

Hart added that there has been plenty of talk and proposals about anticipated changes. “But when it comes down to it, the things that would affect a classroom are sitting in policy, and I haven’t seen policy changes.”

“So I remain optimistic that as this all shakes out, in whatever way, that Utah will be poised to see it as an opportunity and make things even better for our children and families.”

Hart repeats one of her favorite phrases when she considers uncertainties in education: You can’t stop the waves — but you can learn to surf.

“That’s the responsibility that we have as a state education agency.”

Hart also believes that Utah’s education system is better equipped to manage disruptions than many other states because it is less burdened by bureaucracy and is “very close to the people.”

Supporting Utah teachers

When asked about how USBE can support public school teachers in 2025, Hart said it is essential that classroom educators feel they have a voice.

Teachers, of course, need to be paid at a competitive wage.

“But once those needs are met, teachers (will still) burn out if their voices aren’t heard and if there’s a mismatch between what’s happening and what needs to happen in the classroom for their students to achieve.”

Communication with teachers, added Hart, remains essential.

“We have to be clear in our expectations. Clear about their lanes. We have to provide teachers with resources. We have to hear their voices and hear them as professionals — and then let them do their jobs.”

What would a ‘Parent-Superintendent Conference’ with Superintendent Hart look like?

If time allowed, Hart would enjoy sitting down with every Utah parent whose child is being served by the USBE.

Her advice for moms and dads is timeless:

“First, read with your children and read widely with your children,” she said. “Spend time and ask more questions than you give statements. Listen and learn from your child just as much as your child learns from you.”

And, she added, don’t apologize for being the grown-up in the room. “Don’t be afraid to be the adult and to set boundaries.”

Lastly, parents need not operate from a place of fear.

“When you fear the world, you share that with children and then they become fearful,” Hart said. “And then they don’t see the beauty, and they really struggle.

“I think that fear is where so much of the mental health issues come from. So don’t forget to stop, see the beauty, ask questions and enjoy the road.”

The recruiting news keeps on rolling in for the University of Utah, and its latest pickup is a big one.

Timpview safety Aisa Galea’i announced his commitment to Utah on Tuesday morning, giving the Utes their first in-state pickup of the 2026 recruiting cycle.

Galea’i is rated a four-star prospect by Rivals, but holds a three-star rating in the 247Sports composite system, which takes into account ratings by 247Sports, Rivals, On3 and ESPN.

Rivals rates him as the No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Utah, while 247Sports has him at No. 10.

Last season for Timpview, Galea’i totaled 82 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, three sacks, six interceptions, seven pass deflections and two forced fumbles. He was named to the Deseret News 5A All-State honorable mention team.

Galea’i took visits to Utah, BYU and UCLA before deciding to stay home and continue his college career in Salt Lake City.

Galea’i is the 11th player in Utah’s 2026 class, joining quarterback Michael Johnson, edge rusher Preston Pitts, running back LaMarcus Bell, linebacker LaGary Mitchell Jr., cornerback Major Hinchen, safety Carter Stewart, tight end Bear Fisher, wide receiver Perrion Williams, offensive lineman Rowdy Pearce and edge rusher Javion Ramon.