Utah Jazz Best/Worst Case Series: What does Tyler Cavanaugh’s future hold?

The Utah Jazz made a surprise addition when they signed Tyler Cavanaugh to a two-way contract. But unexpected players have made major impacts before…

If the Utah Jazz make some sort of signing or acquisition that appears out of the blue, under the radar or downright insignificant, it should cause some eyebrows to perk up. While some may view such moves as inconsequential, the likes of Joe Ingles, Royce O’Neale and even late first-round pick Rudy Gobert who was traded for mere cash considerations should prove otherwise.

This offseason, the Jazz made yet another unforeseen addition when they signed former George Washington University product Tyler Cavanaugh to a two-way contract. Many believed that the Jazz would award their second two-way contract to Stanton Kidd who was a standout in the Summer League, so when it instead went to Cavanaugh, who wasn’t on the Jazz summer roster, it was a bit of a surprise.

It’s great to see players like him get opportunities such as this, though, so it will be interesting to see just how well he can do with the Jazz and primarily with the Salt Lake City Stars. It may seem like an overall meaningless pickup, but if Cavanaugh can follow in the footsteps of some his under the radar Jazz predecessors, he could very well turn into a diamond in the rough.

Best Case Scenario

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I think it’s fair to say that Cavanaugh is fortunate just to have a contract with the Jazz and his best case scenario ceiling is likely pretty low, at least for now.

The six-foot-nine forward did appear in 39 games for the Atlanta Hawks last season, meaning he is more experienced than your average G-League player. However, especially considering the depth of this Jazz team, I’d say his best case scenario would be dominating as a G-League All-Star with the SLC Stars and perhaps appearing in a handful of games for the Jazz throughout the regular season.

He has high potential as a stretch-four option, as he shot a whopping 44.2 percent from deep in his 11 appearances with the Erie Bay Hawks last season. Depending on how his development goes this upcoming season, the Jazz may find it useful to play him in certain regular season games to give him extra experience, such as in blow-out wins/losses, in hopes that he could one day pan out as a potential deep-ball threat for them.

Beyond that, though, I don’t see him logging much time for the Jazz at all this season barring a catastrophic number of injuries. However, another aspect of Cavanaugh’s best case scenario would be that he lights it up this season with the Stars, then puts himself in a situation to earn a more meaningful contract next year, much like Georges Niang was able to do from last year to this one.

Like Utah’s other unheralded signings, Cavanaugh shouldn’t be slept on, but it may take some time before he’s ready to make a true consistent impact.

Worst Case Scenario

Unfortunately, Cavanaugh’s worst case scenario isn’t very flattering, and due to the ever competitive nature of two-way contracts, it’s an entirely realistic outcome. In short, his worst case scenario would be that he struggles to make his mark with the Salt Lake City Stars and ultimately finds himself waived from his contract. Perhaps another team would pick him up, but if he wasn’t performing well enough for Utah to keep him around, that would seem unlikely.

The one reassurance he’d have in that is that such a scenario is exactly what happened to Naz Mitrou-Long last year, yet he now finds himself back on a two-way contract with the Jazz once again thanks to his hard work and solid Summer League performance.

Still, Cavanaugh has been granted an incredible opportunity, one that he can’t afford to let slip past him. He’ll need to continue to show he can be a versatile deep-ball threat and a solid contributor at the NBA level if he hopes to use this season as a chance to ultimately solidify himself as a valuable asset for the Jazz or any other team.

Don’t expect Cavanaugh to set the world on fire this year, but if the Jazz development program can continue to work its magic, at some point down the road, we could very well begin including Tyler Cavanaugh with the hearty list of names of diamonds in the rough that the Utah Jazz organization has been able to identify and polish.