Northwest Notes: Chalmers, Jazz, Montero, Withey

Trading for Mario Chalmers makes sense for the Jazz, Kincade Upstill of the Deseret News opines. The Heat would prefer to offload salary, as they are about $5.66MM above the $84.74MM luxury tax threshold. Miami hasn’t ruled out trading Chalmers, who will make $4.3MM this season in the final season of his contract. The Jazz are nearly $7MM under the salary cap, so the team could acquire the point guard without sending any salary back. Upstill speculates that a second round pick from Utah would get a deal done due to Miami’s financial situation and its lack of future draft picks.

Dante Exum’s injury creates an opening in the team’s rotation. Trey Burke will slide into the staring lineup and Raul Neto, whose rights were acquired from Atlanta on draft night, will presumably be given the opportunity to run the second unit. The Jazz also have Bryce Cotton under contract, but his deal is non-guaranteed and he’s no lock to make the opening night roster. The team could also use Alec Burks as a de facto second unit point guard. That’s an intriguing option. It would also likely involve inserting Joe Ingles, whose a nifty passer who doesn’t need the ball in his hands, into the starting lineup next to Gordon Hayward and Burke, who can both be ball-dominant at times.

The options currently at the Utah’s disposal are all unproven. The team expects to compete for a playoff spot this season and if the cost of acquiring Chamlers, who has demonstrated he can contribute in the postseason, is as low as Upstill insinuates, then the Jazz might be smart to call Pat Riley and attempt to reach a deal.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

• Luis Montero’s deal with the Blazers only contains $100K in guaranteed salary this season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Montero signed a three-year contract worth $2.4MM in early July. Portland currently has 17 contracts on the books, as our 2015/16 Roster Count page shows. Of those 17 deals, only 12 contain fully guaranteed salary and two, including Montero’s deal, contain partially guaranteed salary, so the 22-year-old has a decent shot at making the opening night roster.
• Jeff Withey’s deal with the Jazz, which is a minimum arrangement over two seasons, contains $200K in guaranteed salary, Pincus adds in a seperate tweet. The pact includes a team option on year two. Utah has 20 contracts on the books, with 15 of them, including Withey’s deal, containing at least some guaranteed salary.