Utah Jazz: Kings front office almost killed the Jae Crowder trade
By Ryan Aston
Some sneaky deal-making by the Sacramento Kings reportedly almost killed the Utah Jazz’s trade for Jae Crowder.
It’s early yet — the NBA trade deadline was just under two weeks ago — but the Utah Jazz’s decision to swap Rodney Hood for Jae Crowder is looking like a good one. After stumbling in Cleveland, Beantown Crowder is back and the Jazz are racking up wins.
The three-team trade was good for the Cavs and Sacramento Kings, too. However, it almost didn’t happen. According to a report, some shaky dealing from a dysfunctional Kings front office nearly kept an apparently isolated Hood in Utah, an underutilized Crowder in Cleveland and a disgruntled/overpaid George Hill in Sac-Town.
In his piece “Inside the 24 hours That Changed the Cavaliers’ Season,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski chronicled how Kings management tried to slip failing project big man Georgios Papagiannis into the deal before submitting to the league. It was apparently something that was never discussed with the Jazz or the Cavs.
Writes Wojnarowski —
"A 3 a.m. ET deal memo sent from Sacramento to Cleveland left [Cavs GM Koby] Altman at first incredulous — and then angry. Suddenly, Kings center Georgios Papagiannis had been included as part of the three-way trade. Cleveland and Utah were adamant that Papagiannis’ name had never been discussed. [Kings asst. GM Brandon] Williams would later say that Papagiannis or Malachi Richardson were set to be included in the deals and insisted his notes confirmed that."
The Papagiannis factor is no small thing. Cleveland basically couldn’t take him on due to luxury/repeater tax implications. And the Jazz had no use for him either. For his part, Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was not impressed, per Woj —
"Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was livid. To him, this was a deal-breaker. He hadn’t dealt directly with Sacramento, because there had been no need: The deal went through Cleveland, and Altman had never suggested to Lindsey that Utah would have to take a 7-foot draft bust onto his roster."
Thankfully, Altman found a solution. The Cavs and Jazz would team-up to front the money so the Kings could essentially buy Papagiannis out. The deal was then done despite some 11th hour shenanigans and the teams involved are better for it.
The Jazz have won all three games played since acquiring Crowder, extending their current streak to 11. Along the way, they’ve outscored the opposition by 14.2 points per 100 possessions when he’s been on the floor. And Crowder is back to putting up over 14 points per game and flirting with 40 percent from three.
Meanwhile, Hood has continued his hot shooting for the Cavs, who look revitalized since the deadline.
As for the Kings, they won’t have to pay Hill to stew on their bench. It’s hard not to wonder how stuff like this continues to happen to them, though. What’s clear is that their front office is even messier than their on-court product. Apparently, Sacramento GM Vlade Divac isn’t even that involved in putting trades together. He and Kings owner Vivek Ranadive just have final say.
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That’s the same dream team that used a lottery pick to draft Papagiannis in the first place, only to waive him less than two years later after failing to slip him into the Hood/Crowder trade.
Deadspin probably summed up this entire, sordid affair best with their own write-up on what went down — “Looks Like The Dumbass Kings Almost Ruined The Trade Deadline.”
Crowder, the Jazz, Hood, Hill and the Cavs must be thanking their lucky stars that Sacramento didn’t succeed.