Three Eastern Conference rumors that could affect Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz

Offseason rumors are starting to stack up across the NBA, some of which could have an eventual effect on Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz.

Although it doesn’t hold a candle to the actual NBA season, the NBA offseason is an intriguing thing in and of itself, particularly leading up to the draft and during free agency. Every team is locked into an essential chess match where the moves one organization makes could be entirely dependent on the decisions of a handful of other teams and vice versa.

The Utah Jazz are no exception to that as they are set to have one of the most important offseasons in franchise history. With All-Star Gordon Hayward and starting point guard George Hill being unrestricted free agents and Joe Ingles being a restricted free agent, the Jazz have to tread carefully to ensure that they can keep their most valuable pieces together.

Not to mention, there’s room for them skill-wise to add some more talented players to their ranks, but if those three previously mentioned free agents are all retained, there may not be much room financially. Therefore, some tough decisions may have to be made as players could have to be traded or let go.

At the end of the day, though, keeping Gordon Hayward is without a doubt Utah’s number one priority. And while he’ll certainly have several suitors throughout the league, the Jazz still have a great chance of retaining him. But until they do, you can bet that Jazz brass and fans alike will be scoping out the goings-on around the league to see how things are shaping up and which teams could pose the biggest threat of nabbing the Jazz All-Star.

Of course the Boston Celtics have been at the top of that list, but several others such as the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and even the San Antonio Spurs have surfaced as well. Most of the speculation, though, has featured Hayward moving to the Eastern Conference if he were to leave Utah.

So with that being the case here’s a look at three recent rumors out of the East that if they come to fruition, could have an impact on Hayward’s decision, thus affecting the Utah Jazz as well.