Utah Jazz: Available players that could be pursued in a trade

Larry Nance Jr.

As I mentioned previously, in my former piece on potential trade targets for the Utah Jazz, I mentioned two Los Angeles Lakers – Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson – who are clearly on the trade block. However, in Woj’s recent piece about the trade deadline, he indicated that the Lakers have also made Larry Nance Jr. available as well.

I’ve got to get a little bit of homerism out of the way right here and now – as someone who was born and raised as a Wyoming fan (Nance’s alma mater) and has followed Nance closely since his college years, I would be absolutely thrilled to see him end up in a Jazz jersey. He’s an exciting young player known for his relentless hustle, being a willing defender and being incredibly athletic especially for his size.

He boasts a lot of skills and tools that I think Quin Snyder and Utah’s development staff could work wonders with. He’s been somewhat inconsistent with the Lakers and isn’t exactly a stretch-four in the sense that he’d be a force from three, but he is shooting 59.3 percent from the field and has the potential to be a solid mid-range guy, so there’s certainly opportunity for him to be a nice fit.

Nance wouldn’t instantly elevate the Jazz into another echelon by any means, but he’s exactly the caliber of player and person that would fit with the Jazz organization. He’s a tireless worker with a strong determination to win and a class act. As a spark off the bench, he could help insert some much-needed energy to an often flat-footed Utah Jazz team.

What’s also nice about Nance is that he still has one more year after this season on his rookie contract making him an affordable asset with plenty of room to blossom with the Jazz before hitting restricted free agency. Given that LA seems open to moving him and may be willing to take on some vets on expiring contracts to help mentor this year’s young team while also paving the road to clearing cap space to bring in a star this summer in free agency, I think there’s definitely a window of opportunity for the Lakers and Jazz to reach an agreement.

I don’t know that Nance is exactly on Utah’s radar, but I think he could be a solid, young and affordable piece that they should definitely be willing to look into. After all, he could very well be one of the more realistic power forward options that they could acquire rather than lose guys like Derrick Favors or Joe Johnson in free agency for nothing.