Jazz Have Interest In Willy Hernangomez

The Jazz are among the teams that have shown interest in Knicks big man Willy Hernangomez, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Bondy had reported earlier this week that Hernangomez is the Knick receiving the most trade interest from rival clubs.

With four centers on their roster, the Knicks will likely try to move one of Hernangomez, Enes Kanter, and Kyle O’Quinn before the February 8 trade deadline (Joakim Noah is considered virtually untradable). While there’s certainly no guarantee that Hernangomez will be the player dealt, Bondy observes that head coach Jeff Hornacek doesn’t appear to be the “biggest fan” of the young center.

Hernangomez, who had a solid rookie campaign a year ago, has fallen out of New York’s rotation this season and has repeatedly expressed a desire to play more, whether that happens with the Knicks or another team. As Bondy details, the 23-year-old sounds encouraged to hear that other clubs are looking into trading for him.

“I feel good to know that I’m not even playing and a lot of teams are interested in me. That makes you happy, you can see that you did something good and somebody thinks you can be good in this league,” Hernangomez said. “Like I said, I’m not worried about what’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I’m working to be ready for my minutes to come. I’ll be ready. I got a chance to play here, whatever it is.”

As we detailed this morning, the Jazz have no shortage of trade candidates on their roster, so they’re a candidate to make a move or two at the deadline. One of the players on the trade block in Utah is Derrick Favors, who has played the fourth-most minutes on the team. If Favors is dealt, it would make sense to target a younger, cheaper frontcourt player like Hernangomez to assume some of those minutes and to provide insurance behind Rudy Gobert, who has battled injuries this season.