8:44 pm: The trade is official, according to press releases issued by both the Jazz and Hornets.
2:15 pm: The Jazz and Hornets have agreed to a trade that will send guard Collin Sexton and a 2030 second-round pick to Charlotte, with center Jusuf Nurkic headed to Utah, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The 2030 pick headed to Charlotte will be the most favorable of the Jazz’s and Clippers’ second-rounders, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
Sexton, 26, spent four years in Cleveland before being signed-and-traded to Utah in 2022’s Donovan Mitchell deal. He has played for the Jazz for the past three seasons, averaging 18.4 points, 4.2 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game in 63 contests (61 starts) in 2024/25.
The Hornets had reportedly been on the lookout for a veteran guard to back up point guard LaMelo Ball. While Sexton is more of a combo guard than a traditional point guard, he can handle the ball and is a pretty efficient scorer — he posted a shooting line of .480/.406/.865 this past season.
The move does further deplete Charlotte’s frontcourt after the club previously agreed to trade Mark Williams to Phoenix. That position figures to be an area the Hornets focus on in free agency, since they’re unlikely to enter the season with Moussa Diabate and rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner as their top two options in the middle.
As for the Jazz, they’ll be adding a physical veteran center to their frontcourt, with Charania suggesting (via Twitter) that Nurkic is a player they like. The 30-year-old appeared in a total of 51 games last season for Phoenix and Charlotte, averaging 8.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 20.8 minutes per night.
Nurkic will join Walker Kessler and Kyle Filipowski on Utah’s depth chart at center. Meanwhile, moving Sexton may open up more playing time for the Jazz’s young guards, including newly drafted rookie Walter Clayton Jr.
Both Sexton and Nurkic are on expiring contracts in 2025/26. They’ll both be eligible for extensions in July and would become unrestricted free agents in 2026 if they don’t sign new deals before then. Sexton will earn approximately $18.98MM (with another $500K in unlikely bonuses) next season, while Nurkic will make about $19.38MM.
I forgot Nurkic was in Charlotte anyway
Wow. I’m a big Nurkic fan, but it seems like a light haul for Sexton.
Sexton is too small for the Wemby era and also really overrated
Really light haul. Guess the market for sexton was slim.
Sexton’s a classic tweener. Too small to be a 2 but not enough of a playmaker to be a 1. And Nurk is a legit starting center, which are much harder to find than Sextons.
Nurk has not been legit starting center for some time. He also has a history of wearing out his welcome.
Denver moved him to Portland because he thought he should be starting over Jokic. Portland dumped him as part of the dame trade for domin-ayton. Then PHX dumped him after he started pouting about losing his starting spot.
He’s started for every team he’s been on except after Denver discovered they had the best player in the world. He even started over Jokic for a while.
He was a much better player before injuries derailed him in POR.
At $18 mil, it must be great to be a tweener!
I figured you would have to pay to take Nurk not get paid for him and get a better more valuable player.
That’s crazy talk. Nurk is a huge body with serious skills. There ain’t too many big men around who can play, if you haven’t noticed.
PHX just had to pay to dump him. He lost his rotation spot on a lottery team that had to find bigs. Like he has been a negative player for several seasons now, and is making real money. Why would anyone want to bet on Nurks 30s for anything over a vet min? He has already declined a ton and been injured a lot.
Sexton is super overrated. Good move by Utah.
Does Charlotte actually have a plan?
Does Utah?
It’s pretty clear that Utah wanted and needed a backup big and they also needed to clear back court minutes for their young guards. Pretty obvious
Don’t they 3 7-footers already – Markinen, Kessler & Filipowski.. and Oscar Tschibwe..?
Maybe one of these guys is on the move…
Kessler to Lakers I hope.
Exactly dumping Sexton to play the kids is the plan. And it’s a good one.
I am just surprised it was a dump. Figured they could have got something back for him. Guess I haven’t watched they Jazz for a while.
Yeah, seems like less than a stellar return for Sexton.
Boston for JB. now they can justify moving Kessler and flip plus picks and salary.
They aren’t gonna move Kessler. He only makes $4m. Someone would have to put together an outrageous package of picks or a young stud.
He is about to make at least 20M after this season, and is extension eligible in Aug so he may be poison pilled in a trade till next offseason if he isnt dealt now.
There are rumors out today that Utah is talking a contract extension with Kessler now
I didn’t ask about Utah, not a fan of either. Utah has been in a rebuild. Not sure what their plan is but Charlotte has never seemed to have had a plan
Always takes a few years to clean up Kupchak’s messes
The same plan they’ve had for the last 20 years. Pick every year in the lottery and hope that they finally hit on one.
I’m assuming they will be working on that plan for another 20 years.
So who will be the Hornets center next year since they traded away both of them?
Pace and space baby! (JK)
I predict they will overpay Luke Kornet to be their new starting center.
Boy, I hope not! Luke Kornet’s a perfect fit with the Celtics. Don’t start messing around with your perfect fit. Once you start bouncing around in any profession you lose status and generally have problems in lots of things. And you’re older. Stay put Luke!
He’s gonna want to start if he can.
Moussa diabate is still there
Mitchell Robinson.
Maybe they will be interested in Andre Drummond and 2nd rd pick in the future to steal some minutes.
This probably means that Utah is moving Kessler… to the lakers for Knecht and 31 pick!?
I don’t think that’s enough but who knows w Trader Damny
I don’t think Utah is playing to win so I doubt the Nurk move connects to a Walker move but again Damny lives in his own world so we await
Negative
Ainge trying to double down on the SAS tanking formula. Not having a PG last year sort of worked in terms of W/L record, but without the “smart” ping pong balls. Sexton isn’t much of a PG, but he’s the best they had. Maybe he won a game or two for them last year, earning him a ticket out of town. No risk of that with George, Collier and the rookie.
Naw it was to clear backcourt minutes for their young guards. You are overthinking it
This mean they finally have a deal for Kessler ????
Can’t believe Sexton is only 26.
I think most of us here can run the Hornets ……
Doesn’t mean anything. They could just as easily have a deal for Nurk, or their draft pick. Or they might try a twin towers scenario.
The Jazz are most likely trying to trade Collins. Nurc would back up Kessler move Markkanen back to the 4 and start Bailey at the 3. Some combination of the kids in the back court.
They couldn’t get a 1st rounder or at least someone younger in return?
Jazz just want as many whyte players as possible.
Sexton is a good player but at the end of the day he’s an undersized shooting guard. He would be a lot more valuable if he played like a point guard and got 6-7 assist a game.
HORNETS has an army of guards now ……… makes you wonder if MJ and Kupchak is still running the show. SMH.