Four free agents that likely won’t consider Utah Jazz, but probably should

Tyreke Evans

In a recent piece I wrote detailing a free agent target at every position, I actually included Tyreke Evans in that list. While he comes with a series of risks, if he can replicate his incredible 2017-18 season where he posted an average of 19.4 points per game, he would be phenomenal.

I would truly love to see him in a Jazz uniform next year, but whether the Jazz actually pursue him or not, I’m less than confident that Evans would pick the Jazz as his ideal destination as an unrestricted free agent.

Perhaps I’m dead wrong on that. After all, he has spent his entire career with small market teams such as the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. If that trend continues, maybe he will see the Jazz as an attractive destination.

However, around the trade deadline, there was a lot of talk of him being moved to a contender, with several elite teams eyeing his services to help them take an extra leap forward, aided by his team-friendly contract. Ultimately the Memphis Grizzlies decided not to move him, but now that he is an unrestricted free agent, I could see that former allure of joining a big market and helping compete for a title take precedence over anything else.

Of course, then again, the question facing Evans is how much is he actually going to be worth this offseason? If he can repeat this past year, he’s worth a decent haul, but fears of it being a fluke season as well as concerns about his spotty injury history may turn some teams away. If that ends up being the case, then it may add just another reason for him to look at the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz certainly shouldn’t and won’t overpay Tyreke, but if there was a mutual agreement there, Utah has mid-level exception money they could play with to get Evans on a pretty nice deal between $8 and 9 million. That might seem like a bargain for a 19.4-point-per-game scorer, but it dwarfs the $3.29 million he made with Memphis this past year.

Beyond the money, though, Evans would have the opportunity for an awesome role in Utah. He would be one of their primary forces on offense, tasked with shouldering a significant portion of the scoring load, but would also be able to share that responsibility with a budding star in Donovan Mitchell. Utah could desperately use Evans’ craftiness and ability to create his own shot in a variety of ways.

In return, Evans could benefit from being a part of an extremely stable franchise which would be starkly different from his days on the Kings or Grizzlies. Evans has always shown sky-high potential, dating back to when he won the Rookie of the Year award in 2009-10. If Evans did his homework, he would know how the Jazz have helped several players, even those in their late 20s/early 30s (Evans is 28) such as Ricky Rubio and Joe Ingles improve, and he would be intrigued by the prospect of the Jazz helping him take that leap.

Unfortunately for him, his highest scoring season was his rookie year where he put up 20.1 points per game. He hadn’t even finished close to that mark until this last season. However, if he were to buy in to Utah’s system and accept whatever role he was tasked with, be it as a starter or off the bench, the Jazz could very well implement him such that he would not only thrive but also have the chance to be a major contributor for a contending team.

The Jazz could ultimately not be interested in Evans due to some of the risks surrounding him or Evans may be ready to join a big market team and compete for a championship. However, if he wanted an ideal basketball situation where he could potentially further improve as well as thrive, he should be open to joining the Utah Jazz.