Utah Jazz: Top free agent prospects from across the league

Jan 20, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward (20) and center Rudy Gobert (back) celebrate during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward (20) and center Rudy Gobert (back) celebrate during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 4, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston (34) during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 121-107. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston (34) during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 121-107. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports /

Shaun Livingston

Shaun Livingston finds himself in a very similar situation to Andre Iguodala. There’s no reason why the Warriors wouldn’t want to bring him back, but depending what kind of money they throw at Curry or what happens with Kevin Durant’s player option on his contract, Golden State may find themselves too strapped for cash to hold on to all of their excellent role players.

If such is the case, Livingston is the kind of guy I would absolutely love to see come off of Utah’s bench. He’s a solid scorer, an excellent defender and has great size and length to be able to bully opposing point guards.

He’s never averaged double figures during a single season of his career, but particularly during his recent years with the Warriors, he’s been on relatively limited minutes. Still, whenever his number has been called, he’s been able to elevate his game. If picked up by the Jazz, he could serve as an excellent additional mentor to Dante Exum or could essentially take over Shelvin Mack’s minutes as a backup as well.

Of course due to the salary cap spike, Livingston, a well as several other free agents, could find himself receiving a surprisingly large pay raise this offseason. Thus if Utah were to add him, it would likely mean they had missed out on some bigger names that they might’ve hoped to add and thus selected Livingston as a consolation prize of sorts.

He wouldn’t necessarily be the kind of guy to take the Jazz to a new level all on his own, but as Utah looks to shore up weak points across its roster, which the shooting guard and backup point guard spots most certainly were, Livingston could be an important piece to Utah’s overall improvement next season.