Veteran forward Joe Johnson is “angling behind the scenes” for a trade that would send him out of Utah, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). It’s not the first time we’ve heard rumblings about the possibility — Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) said last week that he was told Johnson wants out.
Johnson, 36, has racked up more than 20,000 over the course of a long and impressive NBA career, but he has struggled mightily in his second season with the Jazz. In 29 games so far this year, Johnson has averaged a career-worst 7.3 PPG on a shooting line of .422/.267/.826. His 3PT% also represents a career low.
Johnson’s expiring contract may intrigue teams looking to create cap flexibility for the coming offseason, but it’s not cheap — his cap hit for 2017/18 is $10.5MM, an unappealing figure given his production. If the Jazz are unable to find a taker for Johnson prior to next Thursday’s trade deadline, it will be interesting to see whether the team is willing to buy him out, Stein notes.
Given Utah’s reported interest in Nikola Mirotic, sending Johnson and a protected first-round pick to Chicago in a deal for Mirotic could be one potential avenue for the Jazz to consider. However, the club has thus far been unwilling to surrender a first-round pick in exchange for Mirotic.
Maybe Charlotte could do a trade. Batum, O’ Bryant, Monk for Iso Joe and Hood
Clearly you’re a hornets fan
It clears the money for Charlotte, and gets another playmaker to Utah
It’s really not that bad of a deal although I’m sure a couple of more pieces would have to be thrown in. As @acarneglia said, it clears money for them and they also add a good young scorer in Hood who does exactly what they hoped Monk would. Monk has fallen out of Charlotte’s rotation so his value is a little low, but it gives Utah a guy to replace Hood and build around with Mitchell as well as giving them a solid player in Batum. The return is a little light for Charlotte because they’re dropping Batum’s salary and clearing a ton of space off their books.
JT19 I owe ya man
JT19 is the man with the rational and actually intelligent insights haha
I think the Jazz would do that.. pairing Monk and Mitchell would b a very athletic backcourt. But small they both r 6’3
shouldn’t have never signed with Utah I hate when players want out of a situation they wanted smh, man up
$10m…..
That’s some decent cap space cleared at seasons end. I’d hold onto him and tell him to suck it up princess