Over the past couple of decades, the Utah Jazz have been one of the better teams in the Western Conference as they have appeared in two NBA Finals, always have one or two All-Stars each season and have had the longest tenured head coach in the league in Jerry Sloan (23 years). With that being said, the Jazz have always been considered to be a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference with a legitimate shot to contend for NBA title, but this season there have been some drastic changes in Utah that no one saw coming.

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Even though the Jazz have been a competitive basketball team in the West all season long, the first domino to fall in Utah was the head coach as Jerry Sloan decided to call it quits as a loss to his former team in the Chicago Bulls back on Feb. 8. Since that time, the Utah Jazz haven’t been able to win a game as they have lost four in a row (including loss to Bulls) with two losses to the Phoenix Suns and one against the Golden State Warriors.

Needless to say, the Utah Jazz have started to feel a sense of urgency as they have obviously lost their mojo without their leader on the sidelines. One of the main reasons for the departure of head coach Jerry Sloan was an argument with superstar point guard Deron Williams at halftime in the loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Once Sloan decided to resign from the Jazz after the loss to the Bulls, much of the blame was put on Williams as people were saying that the All-Star point guard may have pushed the veteran coach over the edge. These reports were denied of course, but on Weds. Feb. 23 things started to get even more interesting in Salt Lake City as the Jazz decided to trade away their face of the franchise to the New Jersey Nets.

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There was some speculation that Deron Williams might be on the trading block due to his recent dustup with Jerry Sloan and the fact that the team wasn’t confident that he would sign a contract extension, but with the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York going down, Utah was able to fly under the radar.

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Reportedly, the Utah Jazz have traded Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for point guard Devin Harris, rookie Derrick Favors and two first-round draft picks. There will also be some cash considerations involved in this deal.

The New Jersey Nets made another trade on Wednesday sending forward Troy Murphy to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for center Dan Gadzuric and forward Brandan Wright. There has also been talk of point guard Jordan Farmar heading back to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it is uncertain whether or not that deal will go down.