The Utah Jazz have already done enough this offseason to feel mostly settled, but the roster still has one more possible wrinkle before opening night.
Utah is carrying 14 players on standard contracts and has already made a string of smaller moves around the edges. Most recently, the team sent Cody Williams and John Konchar to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a deal that brought back Josh Green. With about a month left before the regular season begins, there is still room for one more move if the right opportunity comes along.
One name that stands out as a possible trade chip is Svi Mykhailiuk.
That said, Mykhailiuk does not read like an obvious player Utah is itching to move right now. Last season, when he was on the floor, he gave the Jazz exactly the kind of steady wing play coaches like: he could space the floor, work off the ball and provide reliable shooting from deep. He was good for a little over 20 minutes a night, and if there are minutes available on the wing this season, he has a real path to earning them again.
Still, the same traits that make him useful in Utah could also make him attractive elsewhere. Teams looking for help on the wing could see him as a fit, and the Jazz may have reason to think about that market, especially with how different their wing rotation looks now.
Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey are part of the young core, Brice Sensabaugh gives the bench some scoring juice, and Josh Okogie and Josh Green add a defensive edge. That group changes the picture for Mykhailiuk, who had a more meaningful slice of the rotation before these additions reshaped the depth chart.
If he winds up squeezed out, Utah could choose to keep him around as a healthy scratch and use him as a backup option when needed. His two-year deal at $3 million AAV makes that easy enough to manage without a major financial hit.
At the same time, that kind of contract and skill set can carry value on the trade market. If Mykhailiuk is not going to see much action for the Jazz, moving him could make sense too.
For now, he remains in Utah and is positioned to see minutes early in the season. But if that changes, trade talk around him could pick up fast.
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