Utah Jazz Trades: Ranking Two Decades of Deadline Deals

5) The DeShawn Stevenson-Gordan Giricek Swap; February 19, 2004

Utah sends DeShawn Stevenson and a second round draft pick to the Orlando Magic for Gordan Giricek.

DeShawn Stevenson would eventually became one of the better defensive two-guards in the Association, but he never quite fit with the Jazz and even clashed with then-coach Jerry Sloan.

To his credit, he did his best to become more than just an athlete in Utah and even improved his field goal percentage to just under 45 percent in his last year with the team. Nevertheless, despite the strides he made as both a person and a player, the Jazz needed an upgrade and made the deal with Orlando.

In Gordan Giricek, the franchise had seemingly found their first legitimate starting shooting guard since Jeff Hornacek’s retirement. At first, anyway. In four-plus seasons with the Jazz, he averaged just under nine points per game and shot over 37 percent from three-point range, making him infinitely better-suited for the Jazz offense than Stevenson.

That said, his defensive effort was a mixed bag at the best of times and non-existent at worst. He also struggled at times to shoot the ball on a level consistent with his perceived ability.

The low-point of the Giricek experiment came when he and Sloan clashed on the Jazz bench during a game, resulting in a dismissal to the locker room and a plane ticket back to Salt Lake City. From that point on, Giricek played the part of a recurring tenant in Sloan’s doghouse.

On the bright side, the team was eventually able to turn Giricek into Kyle Korver through a trade with Philadelphia in 2007.

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