4:16pm: The deal is official, the Jazz announced.
2:43pm: The Jazz have agreed to sign former Pelicans center Jeff Withey, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Darren Matsubara client is getting a two-year, partially guaranteed deal that includes a team option on year two, according to Wojnarowski.
The Pelicans withdrew their qualifying offer, worth $1,147,276, to the former 39th overall pick shortly before news broke that they had struck a deal to re-sign Alexis Ajinca. The Jazz have more than $6MM in cap space, but it’s unclear just how much of that the former Kansas standout will see. He played a limited role with New Orleans, averaging 11.8 minutes per game in 2013/14, his rookie year, and just 7.0 MPG this past season.
Withey has what Wojnarowski deems a strong chance to stick around for opening night, since the Jazz have only 13 fully guaranteed contracts. Still, he’ll compete with Chris Johnson, Elijah Millsap, Bryce Cotton, Jack Cooley and Treveon Graham, all of whom are on the Jazz roster with partially or non-guaranteed salary.
Assuming the Jazz start the season with 15 players, which two players without fully guaranteed deals do you think they’ll keep? Leave a comment to tell us.
Chris Johnson (great D player and has a lot of hustle) and Bryce Cotton (exciting player and they need depth at PG)