Jazz Waive Kendall Marshall

As expected, the Jazz have waived newly-acquired point guard Kendall Marshall, the team announced today in a press release. Utah’s tweets announcing the trade for Marshall and the point guard’s release came 25 minutes apart, so the former 13th overall pick was officially a member of the Jazz for less than a half-hour.

Marshall’s $2MM+ salary for 2016/17 would have become guaranteed within the next few days if he had remained on an NBA roster. By acquiring him in a deal for Tibor Pleiss, who has a guaranteed $3MM salary, Utah created $3MM in cap room and avoided paying any salary, though the team did send the Sixers some cash in the deal.

Marshall, who turned 25 last Friday, has played for the Suns, Lakers, Bucks, and Sixers since entering the NBA as a lottery pick in 2012, and will now be seeking a new home for the 2016/17 campaign. This is the third time he has been traded and subsequently waived — it also happened in 2013 and 2015.

Despite the fact that Marshall has failed to stick with an NBA team for more than a single season since his debut, several league executives believe there’s still a spot in the league for the former lottery pick as a backup point guard, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Marshall’s best season as a pro came in 2013/14, when he averaged 29 minutes per game in 54 contests for the Lakers. The former UNC standout averaged a career-high 8.0 PPG and 8.8 APG that year, while shooting 39.9% on three-point attempts. Marshall has taken a step back since then, though he was off to a solid start as a backup for the Bucks in 2014/15 before he suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

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