The J-Notes
Fansided

Evaluating the “tradability” of each Utah Jazz player

By Jared Woodcox

MIAMI, FL - JANUARY 7: Derrick Favors #15 of the Utah Jazz makes his entrance before the game against the Miami Heat on January 7, 2017 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Oscar Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - JANUARY 7: Derrick Favors #15 of the Utah Jazz makes his entrance before the game against the Miami Heat on January 7, 2017 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Oscar Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
9 of 16
Next
Utah Jazz Dante Exum Preseason
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – OCTOBER 4: Dante Exum #11 of the Utah Jazz controls the ball against the Maccabi Haifa in preseason action at Vivint Smart Home Arena on October 4, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /

Dante Exum

One of the thrills going into the 2017-18 season was going to be finally getting to see Dante Exum in action and finally getting the chance to find out if he could really prove his worth. He’d shown plenty of flashes of greatness, particularly in Summer League and preseason, and his play in 2017-18 was very well going to determine his future.

But of course in typical Jazz fashion, Exum went down in the preseason with a nasty shoulder injury that has held him out of action up to this point. Suddenly, all hopes of seeing what he could do and evaluating his worth were cast aside.

And that makes him yet another tricky case as a trade option. Sure, some teams might be interested in the young guard based on potential only, but he really hasn’t done much to prove his value. He’s a restricted free agent at the end of this season, making him a pretty low-risk option as well for opposing teams, so there could be some appeal in trading for Exum, especially if a team believes he could be a major contributor for them in the future.

However, I also happen to believe that that’s exactly how the Jazz feel themselves. None of us have seen what Exum is truly capable of and before trading him away for likely pennies on the dollar, I would imagine that Utah will want to hold on to him and see what they truly have. They’d quite honestly be hard-pressed to get much in return for him right now anyway considering his injury woes and slow start to his career, so I’d imagine they’d at least see how much it will take to retain him in free agency before giving up on him so soon.

I’d put Exum certainly in the top third or so in terms of Utah’s most valuable trade pieces, but I’d also rank him pretty low on the list of likelihood to be traded. The Jazz aren’t going to part with Exum at a time when they could potentially sign a future star to an extremely affordable deal. Even if Dante never pans out, keeping him on the roster is most definitely worth the risk.

Verdict: Tradable, relatively valuable, but unlikely to be moved