The Utah Jazz and Raul Neto have agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension, league sources told The Tribune on Tuesday.
Under terms of the deal, Neto will make $4.4 million over two years, with the second year being a non-guaranteed team option, sources say.
With the signing, the Jazz have 11 players under contract. This doesn’t include second-year forward Royce O’Neale, whose contract is a lock to be guaranteed next season, or restricted free agent Dante Exum, whom the Jazz are negotiating with.
Before free agency, general manager Dennis Lindsey told The Tribune he wanted to prioritize his incumbent free agents and re-sign them. So far, he’s stayed true to that word. He guaranteed Thabo Sefolosha’s contract on Sunday, signed starting power forward Derrick Favors to a two-year deal on Monday, came to terms with Neto on Tuesday, and hopes to come to terms with Exum in the near future.
Lindsey is keeping his options open for a loaded free agency class of 2019. The Jazz have structured all of their deals to have team options for next summer. If Utah chooses, it can have loads of cap space to chase marquee free agents.
In the meantime, Lindsey is keeping together a group that won 30 of their last 36 regular season games. That group went on to beat Oklahoma City in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, before falling to the Houston Rockets in five games in the semifinals.
