Utah Jazz Impending Free Agents Have Plenty To Prove in Playoffs

Gordon Hayward

Gordon Hayward has emerged as the face of this franchise (though there’s no arguing that Gobert isn’t far behind). He made his first All-Star team this season and is the leading scorer of what has become a solid Western Conference playoff squad.

He’s essentially guaranteed to demand a max contract next season based on his play this year and although Utah will likely be willing to pony up the cash, the fact that he’s unrestricted and can go wherever he pleases makes the situation a bit disconcerting.

The hope is that Hayward is strongly leaning towards staying in Utah already, especially given that the organization has worked tirelessly to put solid guys around him, develop the core and transform the team into a winner. They obviously still have work to do, but Utah’s incredibly fast growth has to be a positive sign for Gordon.

If he is considering looking for greener pastures though, his performance in his first postseason as a starter will very likely affect how teams look at him and whether or not they consider him worthy of max money. He honestly doesn’t have all that much to prove in that regard based on how incredible his regular season has been, but if he puts up a dud in the series against LA, it could make some otherwise interested teams hesitate somewhat.

More importantly, though, Hayward will face high stakes as he looks to prove to his current team that they’ve done the right thing by sticking with him. Although Hayward hasn’t held back in his desire to play on a championship-caliber team, he also needs to prove in this postseason that he can indeed be a key piece on such a team.

The Jazz organization has done everything in its power to do its part for Hayward up to this point, now it’s up to Hayward to continue to prove that he can do his part as well.

If the Jazz are able to advance to the second round and at least challenge the Warriors with Hayward maintaining his solid play throughout the postseason, then I have a hard time believing that either party will look to split this offseason. However, if the opposite ends up being true in either instance, then there’s no questioning that some doubts could creep in and Jazz fans will likely be on pins and needles until the free agency period has wrapped up.

But rather than dwell on those unpleasant thoughts, let’s move on instead to Utah’s next key free agent, George Hill.