The Jazz have requested waivers on second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, the team announced in a press release.
Utah acquired Hood-Schifino a few days ago in the Luka Doncic blockbuster, but obviously he wasn’t in the team’s plans. The news of him being released was first reported on Thursday. Veteran guard Josh Richardson is also expected to be cut by the Jazz.
Still just 21 years old, Hood-Schifino was selected No. 17 overall in the 2023 draft. He spent his first season-and-a-half with the Lakers, who decided not to pick up their 2025/26 team option on his rookie scale contract last fall after the former Indiana standout was limited to just 21 NBA games during his rookie campaign.
Hood-Schifino only appeared in two games this season with Los Angeles for a total of 14 minutes.
While his NBA role was extremely limited, Hood-Schifino did put up some solid numbers in the G League last season, averaging 22.0 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 rebounds on .473/.432/.800 shooting in 15 games (35.4 minutes).
Assuming he clears waivers, which seems likely, the Jazz will carry a $3.88MM dead-money cap hit for Hood-Schifino. He will be an unrestricted free agent in a couple days. Since he’s only in his second season, it’s worth noting that Hood-Schifino is eligible to sign a two-way contract in addition to standard 10-day and rest-of-season deals.
Atlanta should waive Bufkin and sign JHS. Develop him into a defensive backup PG
NYK should waive Ryan or Wright and sign JHS
Someone said GS and that is a good idea to develop as a Shaun Livingston clone
Ya, I think if they used him right, he could help them; I was thinking kind of more Spencer dinwiddie than Livingston, but kind of somewhere in that mold
I also mentioned Richardson for them, if he’s healthy…but I don’t know what room they have/who they are eligible to sign to get to 14 players, and how close they are to their hardcap
Gsw would be good. They have slots open
He’s not healthy, relax on the whole signing him thing. Maybe in the summer, to a Two-Way