The Jazz were one of the most expected teams on the last day of the transfer market. They needed more weapons to fight in the Western Conference, where they have already shown themselves to be a grown team in the regular phase of the seasons and a little more cowed in the playoffs for the title. This year they maintain the structure, with Gobert y Mitchell as main assets and with Conley, Bogdanovic, Clarkson y O’Neale giving support. They have run out of fireproof joe english, who was seriously injured. They keep their doubts Whiteside inside and out you have to find a better fit to Gay o Paschall. They did move to improve the team, but with a minor transfer and that also raises questions. They welcomed Nickeil Alexander-Walker (traded by the Pelicans in the first term and discarded by the Blazers in a second blow), and Juancho Hernangómez (from the Celtics to the Spurs and his new destination is this).
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Several players from the above overlap with the two new arrivals. Alexander-Walker was not exploited as he should have been in a Pelicans eager to have players who can surprise them and in Utah he has offensive and defensive outsides ahead of him among whom it will be difficult to shine first, since the objective is to go through rounds of playoffs.
The mess of the Spanish player is not much less easy. Hernangómez also has a competition that, together with his inactivity this season, leaves him with remote possibilities of adding quality minutes. And the most dangerous thing is not that: Ricky’s shadow, precisely one who knows the Jazz well, chases him and everything points to a buyout.
Juancho Hernangómez, to decide
The Athletic mentions Juancho among the candidates to go on the market again, this time cut by his current teams. His arrival in Salt Lake City is explained so that the franchise located there could avoid paying the luxury tax. An economic reduction for the team that may be more because Juancho has a double prize, if the Jazz can classify him like this: his agreement signed for the next campaign, 2022/23, is not guaranteed, it will be if he is not fired ( in the team in which he is with this contract) before June 30. Base salary plus some incentives would put him at $7.4 million if he makes that cut, though that’s unlikely to happen. For the Jazz, it’s a perfect tool to squeeze even more money out of their coffers, no matter what happens in the championship series. His gap can be filled with short ten-day contracts for other players, according to this publication, which also speculates that this situation would bring him closer to Spain, returning to the ACB after six years away, than to another NBA team, where He averages 5.3 points after 280 games played. Previously, the name of Real Madrid came to the fore, a club that has asked about his situation in previous summers and that would value him as a target to sign for the following season.
