You can take the Jazz out of New Orleans but you can’t take the New Orleans out of the Jazz. That’s at least what upper management have made known in the Bayou. Although the Utah Jazz have been in Utah for over 40 years, they will be rebranded starting next season.
The debate started when New Orleans realized that although they are in The Pelican State, it is a lame name for them. Jazz Music has always been the heart and soul of this city. The Utah Jazz has kept the name far too long.
The Raptors of Toronto realized their team name has nothing to do with Canada. They did join the NBA at about the time the Jurassic Park movie came out so they literally chose the name for popularity. Five movies later, however, this is no longer a thing.
The state of Utah has been trying to attract more tourism for quite some time now. With dinosaur museums in Vernal, Thanksgiving Point and Ogden, fans of the fossils can come see and learn more about these creatures. Utah is home to the famous UtahRaptor whose fossils were found here. With the Beehive State already having the Salt Lake Bees baseball team, another team with the same name in the same city would “sting”.
In this trade, the Jazz will trade their name back to New Orleans along with a plate of green Jello. New Orleans will trade the Pelicans name to Toronto who also had a history of Pelicans in their state. Toronto will trade the name Raptors to Utah, along with the 2019 NBA Finals Trophy. Utah, in turn, will give Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neale.
“We are excited for this change,” said Coach Quin Snyder. “It’s about time Utah changes their name to something more fitting for our state.”
Nobody has decided when the Utah Raptors Championship parade will take place but one thing is for certain: the NBA will look a lot different next year with the Toronto Pelicans, New Orleans Jazz and Utah Raptors.
Happy April 1st everybody!