The Jazz have waived swingman Justin James, the team announced today in a press release. James had been occupying one of Utah’s two-way slots.
James spent his first two NBA seasons with the Kings after being selected 40th overall in the 2019 draft out of Wyoming. He didn’t play a regular role for Sacramento, but appeared in 72 games across two seasons, averaging 3.2 PPG and 0.9 RPG with a shooting line of .446/.343/.544 in 7.5 minutes per contest. The 24-year-old was waived by the Kings earlier this offseason and signed a two-way deal with Utah last week.
The decision to waive James comes as a bit of a surprise, given how recently he was signed. If the Jazz had been aiming to secure his G League rights, they would’ve inked him to an Exhibit 10 contract, so perhaps the team had a change of heart about how it wants to fill its second two-way slot. Trent Forrest is Utah’s other two-way player.
With James on waivers, the Jazz now have 19 players under contract.
JJ was likely waived by the team because Rudy Gay and Bojan won’t be ready to start the season yet. They’ll need front-court players to cover their spots, and then the backups spots. JJ was a backcourt player and at the end of the possible bench.
Either that or like Brantley got a guaranteed playing time offer somewhere? Guess we’ll see. I thought he looked like a promising prospect. He still could play for their G League team.