The NBA’s trade deadline is on Thursday afternoon, which means talks around the league are heating up.
Utah Jazz management is known for being tight-lipped when it comes to leaking information about potential deals, but a few reports have surfaced concerning moves the Jazz could make.
ESPN NBA guru Zach Lowe wrote Monday that Utah has shopped power forward Derrick Favors, although he didn’t go into who or what the Jazz would be looking to get back in a deal for him.
“Utah’s seriousness on Favors is unclear,” Lowe wrote. “They are mum as usual, and they don’t want to weaken their team ahead of the playoffs with (Gordon) Hayward heading to free agency. Favors is still an important player. They could be testing the market ahead of a trade around the draft.”
Noting that the Jazz have about $13 million in cap space this season, Lowe also wrote Monday that “here’s betting Utah offers George Hill a big raise this season as part of a contract extension” should the team not take back a big salary in a trade.
Elsewhere, ESPN’s Ian Begley reported Monday that the Jazz have inquired about Los Angeles Lakers leading scorer Lou Williams. The Lakers could tank the rest of the season given that if their draft pick this summer falls outside of the top three, it will go to the Philadelphia 76ers.
In a sixth man role, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Williams is averaging 18.6 points per contest. The 11th-year guard won the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2015 while he was with the Toronto Raptors.
His contract, which will pay $7 million per season, expires in 2018. Begley reported that Los Angeles could want a first-round pick in exchange for Williams. The Jazz currently have two first-rounders in the 2017 draft, their own and the Golden State Warriors’ thanks to the 2013 trade that helped the Warriors land Andre Iguodala.
Also on Tuesday, Bobby Marks of The Vertical broke down Utah’s roster, examining the team’s draft assets and cap space, general manager Dennis Lindsey’s history at the deadline and any roster movement Lindsey could make after the deadline.