The Utah Jazz made their first significant offseason move on Thursday.
According to league sources, the Jazz agreed to trade Royce O’Neale to the Brooklyn Nets for a 2023 first-round draft pick.
The Jazz have been looking for ways to acquire future assets through moves this offseason, and this is the first move in what is expected to be a busy summer for the Jazz.
O’Neale was set to make $9.3 million this upcoming season and $9.9 million in the 2023-24 season, the final year of his current deal.
The 29-year-old forward joined the Jazz in 2017 after going undrafted out of Baylor in 2015. He played with the SLC Stars in the G League and worked his way up into a regular rotation spot and eventual starter for the Jazz after proving himself to be a high-level 3-and-D player.
News of the trade, first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, came just moments after news broke that Kevin Durant had requested a trade from the Nets and just three hours before the opening of the NBA’s free agency window.
Despite early optimism from fans that a 2023 draft selection from a Durant-less Nets could end up being a pretty big deal, it was later revealed by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the pick will be the lesser of the Houston or Philadelphia pick that Brooklyn has the rights to.
With Philadelphia expected to have a fairly successful season and the Rockets still working through a rebuild, the Jazz’s pick will likely end up being the 76ers pick that is sent over from Brooklyn.
The Jazz aren’t done making moves yet and it remains to be seen whether the decision to move O’Neale, and the draft pick the Jazz acquired, are part of a larger move to be made.
O’Neale is coming off the best shooting season of his career, hitting 38.9% from 3-point range in the 2021-22 season and holds career averages of 6.2 points per game, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists.