The Utah Jazz still have a window to turn the Walker Kessler sign-and-trade into something bigger, and that flexibility could matter a lot before the deal becomes official on July 6.
Because the trade can’t be finalized until the free-agency moratorium ends at 10:01 a.m. MDT, Utah has a couple of days to work the phones and see whether another team can be folded into the move.
That matters because of where the Jazz sit on their cap sheet right now. Darryn Peterson is listed as the team’s third-highest-paid player, and he is an incoming rookie, while there is no salary on Utah’s cap sheet between Peterson’s $13,195,320 figure and Lauri Markkanen’s $46,113,154 salary.
That gap creates a real issue when Utah wants to make a trade for a player earning more than $26.1 million a year without sacrificing a key young core piece or bundling more than three contracts together.
A package of John Konchar, Cody Williams, and Brice Sensabaugh could only return a maximum of $26,138,837 in salary. But Kessler changes the math.
His first-year salary with the Lakers is currently estimated at $30,232,558, and in a sign-and-trade, only 50% of the outgoing salary counts for the team sending him out. Under that estimate, Utah would have $15,116,279 in outgoing salary from Kessler alone, and at the moment the Jazz are not taking any players back in the deal.
Since Utah is below the first apron, the team can take back its outgoing salary plus $7,500,000 when the outgoing salary falls between $7,500,001 and $29,000,000. That means Kessler by himself could bring back $22,616,279 in salary for the Jazz.
Add Konchar and his $6,165,000 salary, and Utah could get to $28,781,279 in outgoing value. That opens the door to a player the Jazz couldn’t otherwise reach salary-wise, while also avoiding the need to send out three or more players just to make the numbers work.
There’s another wrinkle, too. If a deal climbs above $29,000,000 in outgoing salary, the rules shift and a team can receive 125% of the outgoing amount plus $250,000.
But Utah would have a hard time getting past that mark without sending out at least four players, which is why the Kessler route looks like the cleaner path. By adding Konchar to the mix and sending Kessler to Los Angeles, the Jazz can get just under that $28.8 million ceiling.
A three-team setup could also help another club, since it could send out just under $28.78 million while taking back only Konchar’s $6.165 million salary, creating significant cap savings.
The Jazz appear to have options, and there’s still time to explore them before July 6. The next few days figure to be busy in Utah, especially with the Salt Lake City Summer League set to begin on July 4 and the Jazz scheduled to face the Memphis Grizzlies at 3 p.m. MDT.
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 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 🡒]