Month: May 2026

After years of stockpiling draft capital and developing young talent, Utah Jazz suddenly find themselves within striking distance of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. That pick is currently owned by the Washington Wizards. Of course, with elite prospect AJ Dybantsa viewed by many evaluators as a potential franchise-altering superstar, the temptation to move up one spot from No. 2 has become impossible to ignore. The question facing Danny Ainge and GM Justin Zanik is how far they should actually go before the price becomes self-destructive.

Foundation in place

Utah’s 2025-26 season was defined by intentional patience and the steady evaluation of their young core. The Jazz allowed their young backcourt and versatile wing depth to play through mistakes, building a foundation of resilience. The team flashed dynamic offensive potential and an intriguing, modern style of play under Will Hardy. However, they ultimately prioritized the preservation of their pristine asset chest over a forced playoff push.

Winning the No. 2 pick in the lottery validated the organization’s long-term vision. The Jazz proved they already possess the culture and developmental ecosystem necessary for sustainable success. What they still lack, however, is that singular offensive alpha. Utah has complementary pieces such as Lauri Markkanen. What it does not yet have is the centerpiece. That is precisely where Dybantsa’s upside comes in.

Roster and draft capital

As the Jazz pivot toward the 2026-27 season, their primary objective is to acquire a true franchise cornerstone. Utah already boasts versatile defenders and ascending young talent. Players like Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and Keyonte George provide the kind of structural support many rebuilding teams spend years trying to find.

Holding the No. 2 pick alone already places Utah in a phenomenal position. Prospects like Darryn Peterson are viewed as potential future stars in their own right. That said, Dybantsa’s ceiling changes the calculus entirely. He projects as the type of two-way player capable of becoming the face of an era.

More importantly, Utah possesses the draft flexibility necessary to make the Washington Wizards seriously consider moving down. Few organizations can compete with the Jazz’s collection of future first-round picks. That asset surplus allows Utah to negotiate aggressively without completely gutting its own roster.

Absolute limit

When discussing a move from No. 2 to No. 1, perspective matters. This is, objectively speaking, a luxury upgrade. Of course, luxury upgrades should never come at the cost of organizational stability.

The framework of any realistic deal must begin with the No. 2 overall pick. That alone gives Washington the opportunity to select another elite prospect like Peterson while remaining firmly positioned within the top tier of the draft. From there, Utah should be willing to include two future first-round picks. These should be selections acquired from other franchises rather than their own unprotected picks. That distinction matters enormously.

The Jazz cannot mortgage their own long-term flexibility chasing one player, regardless of Dybantsa’s talent. Utah’s rebuild has worked specifically because the organization resisted desperation. Sacrificing future unprotected Jazz picks would fundamentally undermine their entire long-term strategy.

In addition to draft compensation, Utah could include a promising young rotational player to sweeten the package. Someone outside the franchise’s untouchable core could help Washington accelerate its rebuild while preserving Utah’s overall structure. Of course, there are names that must remain completely off the table. Markkanen, Kessler, and George cannot be included.

Utah can walk away

The danger in pursuing the No. 1 pick is becoming so obsessed with the mystery box that you forget how valuable your current position already is. The Jazz are guaranteed access to an elite prospect at No. 2. That is clear leverage.

If Washington demands a king’s ransom, such as multiple premium players, unprotected Jazz picks, or foundational pieces, then Utah must certainly walk away. Danny Ainge understands this better than most executives alive.

If the Wizards are willing to make a reasonable deal, the Jazz should absolutely pursue it aggressively. However, if the price becomes organizational self-sabotage, Utah should stay put, draft an elite talent at No. 2, and continue building one of the league’s brightest futures.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox warned on Monday that Americans have not yet woken up to the high-stakes era of global technological competition that artificial intelligence has unleashed upon the world.

If the United States does not prioritize American AI dominance by building infrastructure as rapidly as the country used to, then it will have much bigger problems to worry about than data centers, Cox said.

“I don’t know that we have our eyes as open as we should on this,” Cox said during a panel discussion with Deseret Voices host McKay Coppins for the Atlantic Across America tour hosted in partnership with the Deseret News.

President Donald Trump has taken aggressive executive action to accelerate data center development, including by asking top military officials to encourage states to support the administration in an international AI arms race.

On Monday, Cox described what he saw as the existential risk presented by America’s Cold War-esque contest with China over AI models like Claude Mythos, which can autonomously identify and abuse cybersecurity weaknesses.

“If China had gotten that piece of technology first — that could exploit the vulnerabilities of almost every major company, and government entity in our country — it’s over, we’re done folks,” Cox told the live audience.

This is the perspective missing from some national discussions around the investment needed to come out on top of what has been called the fourth industrial revolution, according to Utah’s Republican governor.

Cox balanced his urgent wake-up call with an evenhanded criticism of the whirlwind sequence of events that has made Utah a national flashpoint for Americans’ anxiety about the impending AI overhaul of the electrical grid.

The pushback of locals and national groups this month led to a reassessment of a massive data center project in rural Utah, with Cox assuring Utahns that the state can enter the AI age without compromising environmental priorities.

How big is the Box Elder data center?

On April 24, Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority endorsed what celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame said would be the largest data center in the world, located in a barren part of Box Elder County.

There are roughly 700 hyperscale data centers across the U.S. Utah already has 48 data centers, drawing 920 megawatts of power, with 2,600 megawatts under construction, a Gardner Policy Institute analysis found.

But O’Leary’s proposed data center would be in a category of its own. At full buildout, it would cover 40,000 acres and consume between 7.5 and 9 gigawatts — or twice the amount of energy used by the entire state of Utah.

While Cox has devoted much of the past year to launching a national campaign to super-charge U.S. energy output ahead of the AI surge, he said he recognized the concerns about how Utah’s latest data center was approved.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of pushback. And people are right to push back,” Cox said on Monday. “The process wasn’t great.”

After it was fast-tracked through the state’s military economic development pipeline in April, the project received very visible backlash from a vocal group of Utahns who believe it will harm the Great Salt Lake.

Currently, a 100-megawatt data center requires approximately 2 million liters of water each day, which is about the daily use of about 6,500 households, as the Deseret News previously reported .

These evaporative cooling systems once commonly used to keep a data center’s massive banks of computer processors cooled down are being replaced by closed-loop systems, which are 70-75% more efficient, and air-cooled systems.

Proponents of the project have said the project will use a closed-loop system drawing from a portion of the 13,000 acre-feet (4 billion gallons) of water rights that come with the property, which is too dry for agricultural use.

The nonprofit Utah Clean Energy estimated that the 9 gigawatt data center could increase the state’s CO2 emissions by 50-75%, if it relies entirely on natural gas combustion to generate its power.

Utah State University physicist Robert Davies calculated a data center this big, with a dry air cooling system, would produce another 7-8 gigawatts of “waste heat,” potentially warming Box Elder’s Hansel Valley by several degrees.

Cox scales back the hyper scale project

Cox has said that one of the draws of Box Elder County — in addition to Utah’s expedited permitting process —is the convenience of a natural gas pipeline passing through the area which will make on-site power production easier.

A 2025 law, SB132, which was passed unanimously by the Utah Legislature, requires data centers to produce their own power so Utahns do not have to pay higher energy rates because of the huge demand created by AI.

On May 4 — after they were forced to move to a private room because protesters repeatedly interrupted them — Box Elder County commissioners permitted the data center, promising to provide careful oversight of the project.

The commissioners said they had reviewed thousands of public comments, mostly from non-Box Elder County residents, and had done research before making their decision, for which they have since received death threats.

Despite his early, and continued, support for the project, Cox acknowledged on Monday that the messaging around the data center had gotten away from state officials. He outlined some changes to reclaim public confidence.

That’s why Cox said his administration decided to issue a statement on Friday, “taking a step back” from some aspects of the project, “really just rightsizing this for this time because of the feedback that we got.”

The statement said the project developer has agreed to focus all approval requests only to phase I, limited to a 1.5 gigawatt facility, on less than 2,000 acres, and with no reduction to water going to the Great Salt Lake.

“Let’s make sure we are building these data centers in the right places, and in the right way so that we can do all the good things that can come from this,” Cox said.

An incremental approach is different from the “people against virtually everything” mentality that has paralyzed America’s ability to move forward with upgrades to energy infrastructure with endless lawsuits, Cox said last month.

Data centers are coming whether communities like them or not, Cox reiterated on Monday. What gives Cox hope is how Utah has demonstrated with its model approach to AI regulation that it can balance quality of life with innovation.

When asked whether he understood Americans who feel AI is being “shoved down their throats,” Cox said he shared the sentiment. But that doesn’t remove the responsibility to take a proactive stance on this issue, according to Cox.

“If China beats us to that, they lock us down, and I don’t know where we go from there,” Cox said. “So there is a real national security piece of this that I think we have to understand and that we have to be a part of, and Utah is going to be a part of those conversations.”

SALT LAKE CITY — The month of May is halfway gone, but Utah water leaders and local officials continue to plead with residents to limit irrigation use.

The state remains in what the Utah Department of Water Resources calls a “serious drought,” due to record-low snowpack.

“Currently, 100% of the state is in some form of drought, and 59% is in extreme drought,” the department stated in a media release on Thursday. The ongoing drought conditions prompted water districts across the state to delay the start of the irrigation season until May 15.

However, Utahns are still being asked to reduce water use.

Residents in Salt Lake County served by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District are urged to cut their water use by 10% and only water lawns twice a week — after the agency issued a level 2 “severe” notice.

“Of course, if your lawn and plants are still looking healthy right now, there’s no reason to turn on your sprinkler system right away – the longer you can wait, the better,” said Kelly Good, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District spokesperson, in a statement to KSL.

Further north, residents served by the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District are urged to cut back by 20%. Such limitations could pose issues for homeowners living under Homeowners Association rules, who are navigating efforts to conserve water while avoiding potential fines for unkempt lawns.

Trever Midgley, president and founder of HOA Strategies, a property management company in Kaysville, says residents should be aware that Utah laws trump regulations set by their homeowners’ associations.

“What owners should know is that every HOA in Utah should have water-wise rules of what’s allowed in your neighborhood, so it’s key for homeowners to kind of understand what those rules are, if you operate within that framework with their HOA,” he said.

Under Utah’s Community Association Act, which governs all HOAs and community associations — excluding condominiums — residents wanting to limit irrigation use due to drought conditions are protected in doing so, and associations are expected to comply with the law.

Yet Midgley encourages homeowners to be aware of the rules in place in the community where they reside.

“So, while yes, you can move to water-wise landscaping, you still want to make sure you understand if there are any materials that are not allowed, etc.,” he cautioned. “And make sure you just kind of work with your HOA board to get that approved before you put that investment into your property.”

Water conservation experts suggest proper irrigation methods, such as watering early in the morning and infrequently.

“​​The majority of us are applying twice as much water as we need to, so quite honestly, we could just, you know, take that (and) cut it in half, that would be massive savings just to start irrigating right, without making any changes in your landscape,” said Bryan Hopkins, a professor of plant and wildlife sciences at Brigham Young University.

Another idea that could be more costly involves a type of grass that can withstand drought.

Up until about two years ago, hybrid Bermuda grass was considered a noxious weed in Utah, but thanks to the efforts of Hopkins and other researchers, it was legalized in 2024 as a more drought-resistant grass.

The downside, however, is its availability, though Hopkins said that may begin to improve as demand increases, and more sod farms may start offering it in the future.

For residents seeking more ways to conserve water as drought conditions may potentially worsen, Hopkins suggests visiting the Utah State University Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping’s website for helpful tips.