Utah Jazz: Eight intriguing players around NBA reportedly being shopped

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BOSTON, MA – FEBRUARY 04: CJ McCollum #3 of the Portland Trail Blazers brings the ball up court during the fourth quarter of the game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on February 4, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. 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. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /

CJ McCollum

OK, before you get upset, I realize that this one is an absolute long shot. The Portland Trail Blazers are far from likely to deal CJ McCollum and even less likely to do so for what the Jazz have to offer.

Nevertheless, Lowe indicated in his piece that teams have “pitched deals centered around McCollum.” Portland is probably shooting down those offers pretty quickly, but there’s certainly interest in him around the league and with the Blazers pretty well caught in a spot where they’re not contending for a title, but have lots of salary tied up, they may be willing to make a change if the right package is placed in front of them.

That’s where the Jazz could look to strike. They’d certainly have to include their first-round pick, likely Rodney Hood and other meaningful assets, but even that wouldn’t be enough unless the Jazz were willing to take on one of Portland’s bad contracts. That may very well not be enough either, but if the Blazers feel pressured to cut salary and like the potential haul they’d be receiving, they may be willing to make some sort of deal revolving around McCollum.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/958932337814851584

The main problem here is that if Donovan Mitchell is set to be Utah’s shooting guard, it likely doesn’t make sense to bring in McCollum. Perhaps a backcourt of Mitchell and McCollum could work out nicely, but with how well Rubio has played of late, it’s hard to see him losing his starting point guard spot (unless he was included in a deal for McCollum, of course).

If the Jazz had a shot at landing a borderline All-Star in McCollum, they’d probably figure out a way to make it happen regardless of potential positional overlap. However, with Dante Exum set to make a return soon, Mitchell turning into the future star for the Jazz and Rubio playing much better of late, the backcourt likely isn’t their primary area of concern. At least not to the point where it would be their main focus on the trade market or where they’d want to sell the farm or take on a bad contract to land McCollum (which would have to be the case).

In other words, there’s plenty to like about McCollum in a Jazz uniform. But along with Portland’s hesitancy to deal him, adding him to the the Jazz ranks likely wouldn’t be the most prudent move barring some sort of miracle steal of a deal.