With the trade rumor mill swirling, and the trade deadline less than two weeks away, the question is being asked: Will the Jazz make a move soon?
There are targets available that the Jazz’s front office would potentially be interested in, at the right price. Washington’s Otto Porter Jr. has been a consistent target of the Jazz’s since he was a free agent two years ago. Then, he signed an offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets which was matched by the Wizards. Now, with the Wizards in turmoil, the team could look to dump Porter’s significant salary, averaging about $27 million for the next two-and-a-half years. The Jazz, a source confirms to The Salt Lake Tribune, are interested in acquiring Porter at the deadline if he can be acquired at a reasonable price.
Memphis' Mike Conley is also a possibility, and also has earned some interest from the Jazz’s front office. Conley and teammate Marc Gasol, the cornerstones of the Grizzlies for the last decade, are both on the trade market as the team looks to rebuild around rookie Jaren Jackson Jr.. Conley has been averaging 20 points per game this season, but he’s paid an average of $32 million for the next two-and-a-half years. Memphis, though, is known for asking a significant amount for their players, enough that deals with many NBA teams haven’t come to completion in recent years.
To get either player, the Jazz would need to send a significant amount of salary out by the NBA’s trade rules, and that would likely mean the departure of Derrick Favors or Ricky Rubio because of their expiring contracts. That’s meant that both players have seen their names bandied about by Twitter general managers online.
Both players are used to that, though.
“When I was in Minnesota, I was traded like 20 times. It doesn’t happen, you have to really not pay attention to that. A lot of them are just rumors, and only 5 percent of them are true,” Rubio said. “If it happens, it happens. I’m committed 100 percent to this team and the community, and nothing’s going to change.”
And the players think that the team is good enough as is.
“I love this team, and I trust that the personnel that we have here, we can accomplish a lot of good things,” said Rubio, who noted that, while the team loved Alec Burks, “Kyle (Korver) is helping the team a lot and it was a great move.”
“We can always improve the team or not, but I’m very confident in the team we have right now,” center Rudy Gobert said.
“This is not my time of year,” Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey told 1280 AM Friday about the trade deadline. “I get anxious, I hate being a suit. We treat our players, our coaches, their families very delicately because the balance of a team is quite delicate.”
