Jazz Rumors

Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Utah Jazz

If the Jazz have a little more injury luck and stay healthier in 2016/17, they should be in the mix for a playoff spot, so it will be interesting to see how the team fills out its roster this offseason. Assuming the club drafts a player with the 12th overall pick, Utah will have 12 guaranteed contracts on its books, but only about $58.5MM in guaranteed salary. That leaves plenty of cap flexibility to add a veteran or two, but the Jazz will have to be careful about investing long-term in any free agents. With Gordon Hayward potentially opting out in 2017, and Rudy Gobert and Trey Burke eligible for extensions as of July 1st, some key contributors will get much more expensive a year from now, so the team will likely be wary of adding long-term salary to its books this summer if it intends to keep those players around.

See how Utah’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)

  • None

Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)

Other Cap Holds

  • No. 12 pick ($1,931,900)

Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Vivant Arena, Nuggets

Tyrell Corbin, son of former Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin, was among the participants in Utah’s free agent mini-camp this week, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. It’s the fourth year for the camp, which GM Dennis Lindsey brought to the Jazz after experiencing similar sessions when he worked for the Spurs and Rockets. Thirteen players from the last three free agent mini-camps have either landed spots on an NBA roster or earned invitations to training camp. “It’s a chance for them to play in front of an NBA coaching staff and for us to get a look at them,” said Jazz director of pro player personnel David Friedman. “Last year, we had a kid by the name of Jonathon Simmons [in camp] just to give you an idea. He didn’t end up with us, but he ended up with the Spurs.”

The camp has an extra dimension this year because Utah has its own D-League team and will be looking for players to fill the roster. Along with Corbin, other prominent names at this week’s event included Preston Medlin, Spencer ButterfieldDionte Christmas and Julian MavungaGreg Stiemsma, who has played for four NBA teams, was also in attendance, along with Argentinian prospect Nicolas Brussino.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

  • The Jazz hosted a workout this morning, Genessy notes in the same piece. Attending were LSU’s Tim Quarterman, California-Santa Barbara’s Michael Bryson, Memphis’ Shaq Goodwin, Texas’ Isaiah Taylor, Oral Roberts’ Obi Emegano and French prospect Mathias Lessort.
  • Utah is planning a $125MM renovation project at Vivant Arena, Genessy writes in a separate story. Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment will cover $102.3MM, and the franchise is hoping for $22.7MM from Salt Lake City’s Redevelopment Agency. The Jazz will submit their proposal to the agency this week.
  • Washington’s Dejounte Murray will have a private workout with the Nuggets Monday afternoon, the team announced in a press release. The 6’5″ point guard has been rising on draft boards and is listed ninth on the latest list of 100 best prospects compiled by ESPN’s Chad Ford. Denver will hold a Monday morning workout for Bryson, Joe De Ciman of Colorado State, Patrick McCaw of Nevada-Las Vegas, Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville, Abdel Nader of Iowa State and Chinanu Onuaku of Louisville.
  • Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is joining the effort to keep Kevin Durant with the Thunder, according to The Tulsa World. She is willing to offer the free agent forward a government job to get him to stay with Oklahoma City. “Oklahoma loves Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant loves Oklahoma,” Fallin said. “But if he’ll stay, I’ll make him a Cabinet person for health and fitness.”

Warriors Consider Tyrone Corbin, Mike Brown

Tyrone Corbin has emerged along with Mike Brown as the top candidates to be the lead assistant in Golden State next season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Brown has been linked to the position before, but Corbin, a former teammate of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, is a new name in the mix. (Twitter link).

Corbin is a former head coach with the Kings and Jazz and has been out of coaching since being relieved of his interim position with Sacramento when George Karl was hired in 2015. He has been working as an adviser to the Kings’ front office ever since.

Brown served as head coach of the Cavaliers and Lakers and has been out of coaching since Cleveland fired him after the 2013/14 season. Brown reportedly turned down an assistant’s position in Memphis last week.

The Warriors’ lead assistant job will be open once the NBA Finals are done and Luke Walton leaves to become head coach of the Lakers. He held the position in Golden State for one season, taking over when Alvin Gentry left to take the reins in New Orleans.

Latest Draft News

  • Former Louisville small forward Damion Lee has participated in workouts for the Clippers, Celtics, Suns, Spurs, Wizards, Jazz and Raptors, plus, he has upcoming visits scheduled with the Mavericks and Thunder, Kennedy tweets.
  • The Jazz held workouts today for Julian Jacobs (USC), Payton, Kyle Collinsworth (BYU), Dakarai Tucker (Utah), Alpha Kaba (France) and Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), the team announced.

2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Jazz

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors have been recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll finish up with the Utah Jazz, whose D-League affiliate is the Idaho Stampede:


The Jazz made five assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending one player to the D-League for a total of 79 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Utah for the 2015/16 campaign:


Here’s how Utah’s player(s) performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Tibor Pleiss: In 28 appearances Pleiss averaged 12.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 31.5 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .583/.316/.877.

Alec Burks Undergoes Successful Surgery

Jazz combo guard Alec Burks underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to clean out debris in his left knee and ankle, the team announced. The 24-year-old is expected to be recovered in time for the start of training camp after averaging 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in just 31 appearances this season. Burks, who still has three years and approximately $32.53MM remaining on the extension he inked in 2014, has struggled with injuries during his brief NBA career, also missing 55 games in 2014/15 due to shoulder woes.

Jazz Seeking Assistant GM, Working Out Veteran FAs

  • With Justin Zanik having left for Milwaukee, the Jazz are considering potential options to replace him as the assistant general manager in Utah. Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune has an update on the search, with quotes from GM Dennis Lindsey.
  • Greg Stiemsma is among the participants at today’s Jazz free agent mini-camp, while Dwight Buycks and other free agents will work out at a Trail Blazers mini-camp, per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links).

Southwest Notes: Gasol, Kalamian, D’Antoni, Thomas

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, who missed the end of the season after breaking his foot in February, is still very limited physically and may have to skip the Olympics, he said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper As (hat tip to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando). “I’m not going to lie; it’s very difficult,” Gasol said. “The training camp starts in less than a month and I still can’t run.” Gasol has been part of the Spanish national team since 2006 and won silver medals at the Olympics in both 2008 and 2012. It’s too early to say whether the injury will affect Gasol’s participation in Memphis’ training camp, which will start in late September.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • In the same interview, Gasol remains convinced that his brother should join the Spurs. Pau Gasol has a player option with the Bulls for next season worth less than $7.77MM, which he is expected to turn down. He has said the idea of going to San Antonio is intriguing and it’s one of the spots he considered during free agency two summers ago. “I think that the Spurs are the best option for him,” Marc Gasol said. “What that franchise represents, their winning culture, how they treat players. Everything is great there.”
  • The Rockets and Wizards are trying to lure Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. New coaches Mike D’Antoni in Houston and Scott Brooks in Washington are both working hard to add Kalamian to their staffs, but Dwane Casey wants to keep him in Toronto. James Harden is reportedly a fan of Kalamian, who was an assistant in Oklahoma City when Harden broke in with the Thunder (Twitter link).
  • Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski likes D’Antoni’s chances of succeeding with the Rockets, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Krzyzewski, who hired D’Antoni as part of his USA Basketball staff, thinks D’Antoni and Harden will be an effective pairing. “When you have plays and reads, it’s the best combination,” Krzyzewski  said. “It’s especially good if you have a special player, and they do in James. It will be interesting to see how that develops because James is not just a really good scorer; James is a heck of a passer. Who knows what their roster will be next year, but it will start with James.”
  • Adonis Thomas attended the Rockets‘ free agent camp and plans to be at similar events for the Spurs and Jazz, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The 6’7″ small forward, who played for the Magic and Sixers during 2013/14, started last year with the D-League’s Grand Rapids Drive but was released in December with a season-ending wrist injury.

Jazz Work Out Six Prospects

  • The Jazz will work out Ron Baker (Wichita State), Jordan Sakho (Spain), Nikola Jovanovic (USC), Chris Smith (Utah State), Codi Miller-McIntyre (Wake Forest), and Tyrone Wallace (California) on Sunday, per the team’s Twitter feed.

Latest Draft Workouts

  • The Jazz have workouts scheduled for today with Michael Gbinije (Syracuse), Damion Lee (Louisville), James Robinson (Pittsburgh), Josh Scott (Colorado), Malachi Richardson (Syracuse) and Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga), the team announced.