Jazz Rejected Offer Of First-Rounder For Williams

The Jazz rebuffed “one or two” trade proposals before the deadline that would have netted them a late first-round pick in return for Marvin Williams, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece. There were apparently other intriguing offers on the table as well, but Utah chose to hang on to the ninth-year veteran in hopes of re-signing him this summer, Ford writes.

No first-round picks changed hands at the deadline for a second straight year, so it seems odd that Williams, who’s averaging just 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game on a team with a 19-36 record, could have netted the Jazz such a return. Williams was the No. 2 overall pick in 2005, but he’s never lived up to his draft position. He’s still just 27 years old, and has canned a career-high 40.1% of his three-point attempts this season, serving as a fairly productive stretch power forward.

Utah will have its own first-round pick plus Golden State’s unprotected first-rounder this year, and the Warriors pick stands a decent chance to become a lottery selection, since the W’s are only two and a half games up on the ninth-place Grizzlies. Utah also has an unprotected first-rounder coming its way from Golden State in 2017, and while the Jazz, who don’t owe any first-rounders, are well-stocked for the draft, it’s surprising that they’d turn down another first-round pick, even if it was destined to fall in the 20s.

View Comments (8)