The Jazz have signed second-round pick Kyle Filipowski to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Filipowski, a 7’0″ forward/center, declared for the draft this spring as an early entrant after averaging 16.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 30.4 minutes per game across 36 starts in his sophomore year at Duke.
He posted a shooting line of .505/.348/.671 in his final college season for the Blue Devils and was a consensus second-team All-American.
Although he was invited to the green room for the first night of the 2024 draft, Filipowski fell out of the first round and was selected by Utah with the 32nd overall pick on day two. He impressed last month at the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 16.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG in five games (25.3 MPG).
While Filipowski’s contract details aren’t yet known, the Jazz’s announcement indicates he received a standard contract rather than a two-way deal, which was expected. Given his draft slot, a three- or four-year deal with at least a couple guaranteed seasons seems likely.
Filipowski was one of the last 2024 draftees to officially sign a contract, as the Jazz looked to maximize their cap room well into the offseason in case trade opportunities arose. They’ve been in the process of using up that cap space in recent days, renegotiating and extending Lauri Markkanen‘s contract, then officially signing Drew Eubanks and Svi Mykhailiuk.
Utah now has 13 players on standard contracts, with Johnny Juzang‘s reported four-year contract still to be finalized. The team has also filled all three of its two-way slots, so its roster could be almost ready for the regular season.
He is a nice player, I think he will be around the nba for a while
Only if his girl allows him to
He will be easy for them to mold him into the player they want and now he can soak with his cousins and baby sitter all he wants on his downtime.
Raps dropped the ball by not drafting him. Mogbo could have been taken later.
Right. Mogbo at 6’6 lol. Tired of these midgets. At 6’6 you should be playing SG. This is the weakest era ever
Absolute steal for where he was taken.
I like them snagging Kyle filipowski to learn behind Lauri M. I think coming out of college they had very similar games. I see it similar to how they utilized Kelly olynyk last year.
Kyle can learn behind markkanen , then whenever they move on from Markkanen it’s not like the cupboard will be completely bare. I liked what i saw from Filipowski in the summerleague , he appears to bring some of the same kinda versatility & skill Markkanen can uniquely bring to the table at his size. Neither are what I label a stereotypical “big man” in todays NBA & that’s precisely what I like. They can shoot , take people off the dribble , bang a lil , pass a lil ,rebound. But most importantly they can both function as an iso guy , or a hub on offense which you can build your offense out from.
Obviously with Filipowski he’s got at least a couple years of development ahead of him before we fully see what he’s capable of , but he appears to have a rather diverse skill set to fall back on meaning he’s capable of more than just one role.