In case you need a reminder of contracts, here’s a link to [our Spotrac page](https://www.spotrac.com/nba/utah-jazz/yearly/cap/).
* NAW comes up for RFA after this season, so we can match any offer he gets.
* Outside of Sexton, Markkanen, Agbaji, Kessler, who we have for longer, everyone else’s contracts expire after the 2023-24 season.
* Beasley is on a team option that I think we’ll pick up if we still have him.
* Clarkson just turned down an extension from us, so I think he won’t be picking up his player option in order to test FA.
* Gay and THT are almost 100% going to pick up their player options.
* Olynyk and Conley are partial guarantees. Olynyk is more likely to be cut for cap savings ($3M guaranteed) than Conley ($15M guaranteed).
With that out of the way, here are some ideas on my trade deadline wish list.
1\. **Trade or waive Rudy Gay.**
I think no explanation is needed for this one. Maybe he’s useful as salary matching somehow, but I’m not holding my breath.
2\. **Trade one or more of our veteran guards: Mountain Mike, Jordan Clarkson, and Malik Beasley.**
I think I would try to trade Conley, Clarkson, and Beasley with equal priority, going for whichever trade gets us the best value. They’re all very different, but different teams looking to fill different holes in their lineup may be reaching out to us with various assets. Conley has the most difficult contract to move by far, but he is still a steady ballhandler and distributor, has shot well from 3 in recent seasons, and isn’t a complete slouch on D. Clarkson is a flamethrower who thrives in manufacturing his own shots and has shown some aptitude in creating for others this season, making him valuable to plenty of teams. Beasley is a high volume 3 point shooter who alternates between scorching hot and icy cold. In addition to coming back from injury, I wonder if we’ve kept Sexton’s minutes low because we know we’ll be giving him solid starter minutes for the rest of the season. I also want to make sure we open up more minutes for NAW, Agbaji, and THT. In an ideal scenario, I think we would trade two of Conley, Clarkson, and Beasley, and roll with the remaining one and NAW backed up by Agbaji and THT. Since it’ll probably be Conley who remains at the very least, it seems like a reasonable backcourt player rotation to test out.
3\. **Evaluate trades for Jarred Vanderbilt.**
[I made a post about this recently.](https://www.reddit.com/r/UtahJazz/comments/100dkdz/should_we_keep_the_vandalorian_to_evaluate_his/) I hate sending out Vando to another team because he’s such a fun player to watch, but his talents are wasted on our roster. He’s so much better as a glue guy and high-energy player and I think he’s more valuable to other teams than he is to us. In that sense, I think his value, along with his <$5M/yr contract, is super high. Pair that with a surprisingly acceptable corner 3 shot, and I think teams will be upping the price on each other to try to nab him. I’m not sure who we should try to get in return or what a deal might look like including him, but I think Ainge won’t let him go for less than a lightly-protected FRP or bundled to get a solid player locked up on a long-term contract. If nobody ponies up for him, I have no issues trying to deal him again in the off-season.
4\. **Evaluate trades for Kelly Olynyk.**
We’ll probably cut him to avoid paying his full contract next year, so it makes sense to try to get something for him at the trade deadline. Similar to Vando, he’s probably more useful to a contender than he is for us, though having him has been highly entertaining and allows us to run out really interesting lineups. In that sense, this is probably about as high as his value will be with us, so it makes sense to move him. Unfortunately, if we trade both Vando and Olynyk, our frontcourt gets really thin, with only Markkanen, Kessler, and maybe Gay (see #1). However, if we follow trades in #2, we’ll probably be getting forwards/bigs back, and we can target one in a straight-up trade in addition to a pick (e.g., Jalen Smith). Though Fontecchio hasn’t quite adjusted to the pace of the NBA, it would be good to see more of him as well.
5\. **See if Dok or Bolmaro has any trade value.**
Some teams really just need a big. Yeah, Dok’s been injury-riddled since he joined the league, but he came in as a 7’1″ athletic freak and would probably still be better than some of the backup centers out there. Maybe we can get a protected second-rounder for either of them, though I may be too optimistic. We turned down their club options too, so they’re UFAs after the season.
6\. **Answer the phones for teams asking about Markkanen, Kessler, and Sexton, but hang up unless those trade packages are absurd.**
I’m not super high on Sexton’s ceiling, but I also think we haven’t seen his best ball yet since his return from injury. I figure as long as we pull off #2, his trade value should increase over time. If we do end up dealing him, Ainge will make sure it’s for max value. Markkanen and Kessler are obviously guys we want to keep long-term, but if a team offers a Gobert-like haul, it would be remiss of Ainge not to consider the possibility.
7\. Dumpster dive. With a bunch of movement around the league, talent-rich teams may be cutting the end of their bench. Provided we trade some of our vets, we can promise some guys struggling to carve out a role in the league a clear path to more playing time.
Do you have any moves in mind? In your realistic opinion, who should still be on the team after the trade deadline? Who should we move to acquire?
by epoch_fail
1 Comment
Keep Beasley