Utah Jazz Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Injury Updates: Exum, Hayes, Bogdanovic, Okogie, Towns

January 4th, 2021 at 9:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cavaliers guard Dante Exum departed Monday’s game against Orlando in the opening minute with a right calf strain, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He went down with a non-contact injury and eventually hobbled to the bench, unable to put weight on his leg. Cleveland players spoke with optimism regarding the injury after the game, Fedor tweets.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

Pistons lottery pick Killian Hayes left Monday’s game against Milwaukee during the third quarter with a right hip injury, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets. Hayes has started regularly during his rookie season. He’ll have an MRI on Tuesday, coach Dwane Casey said after the game.
Jazz swingman Bojan Bogdanovic has continually experienced soreness in his surgically repaired right wrist, Sarah Todd of The Deseret News writes. Bogdanovic put on a brace during Sunday’s game against San Antonio and it helped dramatically, as he scored 28 points. “I really hate to play with anything on my body, any tape, any brace, anything,” he said. “But I really needed it because my wrist is kind od sore whenever I follow through when I’m shooting.”
Josh Okogie is closer to returning than Karl-Anthony Towns for the Timberwolves, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. Okogie has missed the last four games with a left hamstring strain. Towns has only played two games due to a dislocated left wrist. Meanwhile, Jaylen Nowell is ramping up in practice and is close to making his season debut. He’s been sidelined with a left ankle injury.

Kevin Durant To Miss Multiple Games Under COVID-19 Protocols

January 4th, 2021 at 4:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets star forward Kevin Durant is listed out Tuesday against the Jazz due to NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.

Durant’s faces a seven-day quarantine because of exposure to a positive COVID-19 case, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews report. That means Durant would also have to sit out three more games. He has continued to register antibodies and has tested negative in multiple recent tests, Wojnarowski adds.

No other player on the team was listed as out for the same reason.

Durant tested positive for the virus back in March, shortly after play was halted. He later stated to ESPN’s Marc Spears he didn’t experience symptoms.

“I didn’t have any symptoms so I am good,” he said this summer. “I couldn’t leave the house. … The unknown was definitely difficult to deal with. But other than that, I was great.”

The NBA is experiencing an uptick in cases without the protection of a bubble. The Bulls are dealing with the virus, as Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison have tested positive recently and two other Chicago players have simultaneously been held out of action.

Clarkson Fined For Making Contact With Official

January 2nd, 2021 at 3:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson has been fined $25K by the league for making contact with a game official, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. The incident occurred during the second quarter of Utah’s loss to the Suns on Thursday. Clarkson, one of the top reserves in the league, re-signed with the Jazz on a four-year deal in November.

Gobert Remains Big Part Of Offense

December 26th, 2020 at 12:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Despite the emphasis on the 3-point shot, Rudy Gobert remains a big part of the Jazz’s offense, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Gobert made 8-of-10 field-goal attempts in the team’s season-opening victory over Portland while scoring 20 points. “When we move the ball that way it doesn’t really matter who gets the shot,” Gobert said. “I’m able to get my teammates open by just setting the screen or running the floor, or by catching the ball and then swinging to the open shooter. It’s fun.” Gobert signed a five-year, $205MM extension on Sunday.

Latest Details On NBA G League Bubble

December 24th, 2020 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Seventeen teams have indicated that they plan to participate in the NBA G League bubble, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who notes that the G League Ignite select team will be the 18th squad.

While we don’t yet have a full, official list of the teams participating in the G League bubble, Ridiculous Upside has done a good job passing along reports (including some of ours) and providing new details on which clubs are in and out. Their list includes 13 teams believed to be in, not counting the Ignite, as follows:

Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
Austin Spurs (Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
Lakeland Magic (Magic)
Long Island Nets (Nets)
Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
Raptors 905 (Raptors)
Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

G League expert Adam Johnson says the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets), Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves), and Erie BayHawks (Pelicans) are also expected to take part (Twitter link).

The G League reportedly asked for teams to volunteer to opt out, since bringing 29 franchises to the bubble wouldn’t have been logistically possible, so the clubs passing on the bubble aren’t necessarily doing so because they’re not interested in participating.

Teams opting out of the bubble who signed players to Exhibit 10 contracts before the season will be given the option to loan or “flex” those players to another G League team for the bubble and will be responsible for paying all expenses for those players, Givony explains.

The Wizards, for example, aren’t expected to have the Capital City Go-Go play in the bubble, but will likely use the Pelicans’ affiliate – the BayHawks – as their temporary affiliate for their former Exhibit 10 players, such as Caleb Homesley, Marlon Taylor, and Yoeli Childs, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.

A G League draft would take place in January, according to Givony, who reports that players whose returning rights are held by non-bubble teams would temporarily be dispersed to other clubs in that draft. If non-bubble teams don’t want to “flex” their former Exhibit 10 players to G League teams participating in the bubble, those players will also enter the draft pool, says Givony.

Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the tentative start date for the G League season is February 8. Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link) shares a more detailed breakdown of the proposed timeline, which would see G League players and staffers begin an “at-home” quarantine period on January 13.

Givony confirms that teams participating in the bubble still expect to play a minimum of 12 games apiece (not including the playoffs), as was reported in November.

Finally, Givony reports that the G League is making adjustments to its roster rules to make it easier for NBA teams to recruit and sign veterans with five or more years of NBA experience. Each team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who fits that bill, and won’t have to navigate the NBAGL’s complicated waiver process to add that player, per Givony.

As Johnson tweets, the rule will be a one-off for this season and will allow – for instance – the Warriors to add Jeremy Lin to their Santa Cruz affiliate, like they wanted to.

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots To Start Season

December 24th, 2020 at 12:23pm CST by Luke Adams

Now that the regular season is underway, no NBA team is carrying more than 17 players in total — 15 on standard contracts and two on two-way deals. However, not every team is making use of all 17 roster spots available to them.

Currently, 12 of the league’s 30 teams have at least one open roster spot, either on their regular roster or in their two-way slots.

Those dozen teams have different reasons for not carrying a 15th man on their standard roster. For some clubs, the decision is likely financially motivated, since an open roster spot means not having to pay an extra player.

Some teams may want to maintain the roster flexibility that an open roster provides — it can allow a club to act quickly and decisively in the event of an injury or a two-for-one trade opportunity.

A handful of teams actually can’t add a 15th man at this point, since they’re too close to their hard cap and won’t be able to fit another minimum-salary contract below that hard cap until later in the season.

With the G League season not yet underway, a healthy team may simply decide there’s no point in filling the 15th spot with a developmental player who won’t see any game action. That may also be the reason why some teams haven’t yet filled both their two-way contract slots.

Listed below, with the help of our roster counts breakdown, are the teams that aren’t carrying full rosters.

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

Charlotte Hornets
Houston Rockets *
Los Angeles Clippers *
Los Angeles Lakers *
Milwaukee Bucks *
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Utah Jazz

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes that the team can’t currently sign a 15th man due to the hard cap.

Teams with an open two-way slot:

Detroit Pistons
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers

Rudy Gobert Talks Path To NBA, COVID-19, Mitchell

December 24th, 2020 at 9:18am CST by Luke Adams

ESPN’s Lisa Salters conducted an in-depth interview with Jazz center Rudy Gobert, discussing his path to the NBA, how it felt to become the league’s “patient zero” for COVID-19, and his relationship with Donovan Mitchell, among other topics. “We had conversations as grown men, and we told each other what we had on our minds,” Gobert said of mending his relationship with Mitchell. “And the end of the conversation was that our goal was to win a championship together and, you know, I thought it was really mature from both of us to come out of the conversation like that.”

Rudy Gobert Signs Five-Year Extension With Jazz

December 20th, 2020 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

11:00am: Gobert’s extension is official, the Jazz announced in a press release.

“Rudy is such a special player,” new team owner Ryan Smith said in a statement. “He makes everyone on the court better. We couldn’t be more excited about his commitment to this team, to Utah, and most importantly, to keeping this unique culture together.”

9:13am: Rudy Gobert has reached an agreement on a five-year, $205MM extension with the Jazz, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The final year of the deal will be a player option, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

“It means that they believe in me,” Gobert told MacMahon, confirming the agreement. “They believe in what we’ve been building over the years with this whole organization, with coach (Quin Snyder) and all the guys. For me, it’s an incredible blessing. It’s a very motivating feeling to know that we all share the same vision and we all share this goal for this state and for this franchise.”

The 28-year-old center was eligible to receive a super-max deal that would have been worth up to $228MM. He opted to take a little less so that Utah could have some financial flexibility to build the team around him and Donovan Mitchell, who also signed a five-year extension last month. There were reports of tension between Gobert and Mitchell after both players contracted COVID-19 in March, but they have now committed to a long-term future with the franchise.

Gobert’s new deal is the third-largest in NBA history, MacMahon notes. The only bigger contracts are the new $228MM super-max deal for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the five-year, $206.8MM super-max that the Thunder gave Russell Westbrook in 2017.

Gobert is currently in the final season of a four-year, $102MM arrangement, and Utah has some flexibility with the parameters of his new contract, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Jazz could start the deal at $35.3MM for 2020/21, which is $4MM below 35% of the salary cap, with 8% raises each year. They could also opt to give him the full 35% at the beginning, which translates to a $39.3MM salary with 2.2% annual raises.

Gobert, who faced a Monday deadline to get a five-year extension finalized, has become one of the best centers in the league during his seven seasons in Utah. He won Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2017/18 and 2018/19 and has been an All-NBA selection in three of the past four years. The only thing missing from his resume is a long playoff run, which he believes the Jazz can accomplish soon.

“I want to win, and I feel like leaving this money on the table for the team just to be able to have better talent around me and Donovan was really important,” Gobert said. “I want to win, and I believe in this group and I believe in this organization, and I was willing to leave that money on the table for them.”

Gobert’s new contract is the latest in a long line of lucrative extensions signed since the new league year began last month. Only three players – Anthony Davis, Brandon Ingram, and Gordon Hayward – signed free agent contracts worth more than $100MM this offseason, but Gobert is the seventh player to finalize an extension worth $160MM or more, as our tracker shows.

The deal also takes another marquee free agent off the market for 2021. Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Paul George are among the other stars who will no longer reach free agency next summer after signing extensions this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jazz Waive Yogi Ferrell, Malcolm Miller

December 19th, 2020 at 6:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Jazz have waived guard Yogi Ferrell and forward Malcolm Miller, tweets Eric Woodyard of ESPN.

Ferrell, 27, just signed with the team on Friday. He spent the past two seasons with the Kings, but averaged a career-low 10.4 minutes per game last year. Miller, also 27, has been with the Raptors the past three years and got into 28 games last season.

Along with waiving four players Friday night, Utah’s roster is now down to 14, including just 11 guaranteed contracts, as well as a pair of two-way players. The Jazz are slightly over the luxury tax line and may not carry 15 players this season.

Jazz Waive Trevon Bluiett, Three Others

December 18th, 2020 at 6:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Jazz have waived guard Trevon Bluiett and three undrafted rookies — center Romaro Gill, forward Tre Scott and guard Jake Toolson — according to a team press release.

Utah needed to make room on its 20-man roster for two new additions, guard Yogi Ferrell and forward Malcolm Miller.

Some or all of the players let go on Friday could wind up with the Jazz’s G League club in Salt Lake City if they clear waivers.

Bluiett appeared in 41 games with the Salt Lake City Stars last season, averaging 14.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 2.5 APG in 29.3 MPG.

Gill, an undrafted rookie out of Seton Hall, posted averages of 7.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 3.2 BPG in 30 games last season.

Scott was a four-year player at Cincinnati and averaged 11.4 PPG and 10.5 RPG in 33.7 MPG for the Bearcats last season.

Toolson spent two seasons at BYU before transferring to Utah Valley and then back to BYU last season. He averaged 15.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 3.9 APG as a senior.