The Utah Jazz are among several teams stuck in NBA purgatory. They are a talented squad with high potential, but they have not taken a huge step forward like many believed they would. They are currently sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference, needing a burst in order to make a deeper run in the postseason.
That makes the Jazz an interesting team ahead of the NBA trade deadline on Thursday. They have about $13 million in cap space in case they want to take on contracts without sending much back. But according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, they may be sellers over the next few days:
They’ve tested the market for Derrick Favors over the last few weeks, according to several league sources; Favors hasn’t been quite the same since coming back from injury, and Utah plays Favors and Rudy Gobert together for only 10 or 12 minutes per game.
Utah’s seriousness on Favors is unclear; they are mum as usual, and they don’t want to weaken their team ahead of the playoffs with Hayward heading to free agency. Favors is still an important player. They could be testing the market ahead of a trade around the draft.
Favors is a nice, talented player who is still only 25 years old. However, he has had a rough season since coming back from injury and his fit next to Gobert, as Lowe mentions, is something the Jazz have not completely figured out.
Utah will likely pay both Gordon Hayward and George Hill this summer, taking their cap situation from incredibly beneficial to maxed out. Saving some money by sending out Favors for more cost-controlled players could be a decent idea, depending on the return.
