The Utah Jazz have moved quickly enough in free agency to address part of their frontcourt, bringing in Jaxson Hayes from outside the building and keeping Jusuf Nurkic in the fold from last season. That gives Utah some stability at center after sending Walker Kessler to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still leaves the roster looking a little thin where it matters most.
That’s why one more big man could make sense, especially with roughly $9 million still available through the mid-level exception. Utah has room to add another rotation-level center, and the market for those players is starting to look pretty bare. Still, one name stands out as a realistic option: Andre Drummond.
Drummond isn’t the flashiest target, and he’s heading into his age-33 season after one of the quieter statistical years of his career. But if the Jazz are looking for one thing they’ve lost with Kessler gone, Drummond brings it in a big way.
Rebounding.
Kessler made Utah’s frontcourt look far more complete when he was patrolling the paint and cleaning up the glass. With him out of the picture, that burden shifts heavily to Nurkic, and the Jazz could use another body who can crash the boards and soak up minutes without forcing the issue.
Drummond has built his reputation on exactly that. He’s 27th on the NBA’s all-time rebounds list, and even at 32 last season, he still pulled down more than eight boards a night while playing just 19.5 minutes per game. That kind of production would give Utah a veteran presence in the second unit and help replace some of the rebounding punch that walked out the door with Kessler.
There’s a little more to Drummond’s game now, too. Last season, he hit 35.6% of his threes on 1.4 attempts per game, which adds at least some modern flexibility to his value. But the main draw remains the same: he can still own the glass.
The financial hurdle is real, though not impossible. Drummond recently said he wasn’t interested in signing for the minimum, which means the Jazz would need to dip into part of that remaining mid-level exception if they want to land him. Fortunately for Utah, that kind of offer is still on the table.
Drummond said, "I did that once and then I got labeled as one of those guys, and I think it really killed my value in the NBA, because I'm still moving like I'm in my mid-20s. I still have a lot left in the tank."
If the Jazz want another center to battle Hayes for backup minutes and give the roster a stronger base behind Nurkic, Drummond fits that conversation better than most of what’s left. He may not be the most exciting name on the board, but he could be one of the most practical.
In Other News...
Another Blockbuster Just Made The Walker Kessler Trade Look Better
A fresh wave of offseason fireworks gave the Jazz another reason to feel good about the Walker Kessler move. Bostons decision to send Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and a package of picks reset the market in a hurry, and it invited a quick comparison with Utahs own trade of Kessler to the Lakers, a deal that brought back a significant haul of future assets. For a Jazz team still sorting through its long-term frontcourt plans, the optics matter almost as much as the return itself.
Utah also did not leave itself exposed if the Kessler situation had gone a different direction. The Jazz had a fallback path in place, including the possibility of landing Jaren Jackson Jr. and bringing back Jusuf Nurkic, which underscores how deliberate the front office was in handling the stretch. With another major trade now hanging over the league, the Kessler deal looks less like a simple move and more like one piece of a wider offseason strategy. [Read more 🡒]
Jazz Still Have One Last Chance To Maximize The Kessler Deal
The sign-and-trade sending Walker Kessler to the Lakers is expected to be finalized once the July 6 moratorium lifts, but Utahs front office still has a narrow window to see whether the framework can be made more useful before it becomes official. From the Jazzs side, this is less about simply moving Kessler and more about whether the deal can be shaped to create a better financial and roster outcome, especially with the team looking for every bit of flexibility it can find.
Utah does not have a clean block of mid-tier salary sitting between Darryn Peterson and Lauri Markkanen, which makes ordinary trade matching tougher and leaves the club leaning on consolidation or outside help. That is why the possibility of folding the move into a broader structure matters, because even a modest add-on could change the cap math and open the door to extra assets before the agreement is locked in. [Read more 🡒]
Jazz Suddenly Face Serious Pressure To Get This Center Decision Right
The Jazzs frontcourt picture changed fast, and suddenly the center spot looks a lot less settled than it did just a short time ago. With Jusuf Nurkic penciled in as the starter, Utah now has to sort through a thinner depth chart and decide whether it wants to patch the position with another veteran or trust what is already on hand.
That is why the coming days matter for a team that has already reshaped its interior rotation once this offseason. The free-agent and trade market still offers a few plausible answers, from familiar stopgaps to bigger swing-for-upside ideas, but the Jazz have to be careful here - this is the kind of decision that can look minor in July and loom large by the time the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]