Wilson Chandler – Joe Johnson discussions
On Wednesday evening, Mike Scotto of The Athletic announced that the Utah Jazz had engaged with the Denver Nuggets on a trade involving Wilson Chandler and Joe Johnson. It’s no surprise that the Jazz are willing to move Johnson if they can get anything out of him, while the Nuggets have aimed to deal Chandler in the past, so there is quite a bit of logic to this rumor.
The salaries actually do line up such that the two could be traded straight up for one another, making this all the more intriguing. Chandler’s ability to play the stretch-four and serve as an able defender could be an intriguing fit for Utah, while the vet Joe Johnson could be a similar scoring threat and mentor in Denver as he was for the Jazz.
Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz have held exploratory trade discussions involving Wilson Chandler and Joe Johnson, league sources told The Athletic.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) February 8, 2018
Chandler does have a player option on his contract for 2018-19, however, and unless he thought he could make more or similar money elsewhere, he could very likely opt in to the $12.8 million he would be owed. If Utah were really high on him, that could be a good thing, but considering that his play has been somewhat erratic, that might be too much of a risk for the Jazz.
I’m not as high on Chandler as a Jazz target as most, especially considering his less than brilliant shooting percentages this season (41.4 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from deep). Thus, perhaps a combination of those concerns have led the Jazz to turn away from such a transaction pretty quickly. It was later reported that talks between Utah and Denver faded shortly after starting.
Nevertheless, these two teams have done plenty of business in the past (thanks again for Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, by the way!) and with both teams wanting to ship Johnson and Chandler, respectively, this is certainly a duo to keep an eye on at the deadline.