Utah Jazz: A high-level PG may not be in the cards this summer

Editorial — Dreams of Kemba Walker and Mike Conley may be dancing in Utah Jazz fans’ heads, but the team may just enter the 2019-20 season sans a significant upgrade at the point.

If there’s one thing all Utah Jazz fans can agree on, it’s that Ricky Rubio is a solid guy, and one with the heart of a champion on the hardwood. On the flip side, the Jazzland majority is likely also in agreement that the team needs a better fit at the point next season.

Unfortunately, actually getting an upgrade in the backcourt isn’t something you can just will into being. And, ultimately, a high-level point guard may not be in the cards for the team this summer.

Sorry to be the wet blanket, but despite the fact that Kemba Walker, D’Angelo Russell and Malcolm Brogdon will all hit the open market in July, while Mike Conley and Jrue Holiday have the look of legitimate trade targets, the Jazz front office will be fighting uphill battles on all fronts.

Let’s focus on Kemba because, clearly, he’s the headliner here. After all, he’s a bona fide, multi-time All-Star, one of the best bucket-getters in the league and, at 29, should still have at least three-ish years of elite-level play in him.

Sounds great, right? Well, maybe it’s too great.

Walker’s play this past season was so good, he picked up All-NBA honors in the process, which made him supermax eligible. The Charlotte Hornets can now offer him an additional year and up to $80 million more than what the Jazz or any other team can offer.

Even if money wasn’t the top factor in Walker’s free agency, the idea that he would pass on that much more…

To come to sleepy Salt Lake City…

And play for a team that just got beat 4-1 in the first-round…

A team that already has a ball-dominant guard and an alpha dog in its backcourt…

At best, that sounds like dicey proposition.

The other guys’ on fans’ wish lists are even easier to dismiss as obtainable pieces, if you’re looking to do so. Russell and Brogdon are restricted free agents — and the Jazz, in all likelihood, aren’t going to tie up their finances waiting to see if teams will match their offer sheets. Especially with Derrick Favors‘ contract guarantee date falling a few days after free agency starts.

Also, it’s hard to see the Milwaukee Bucks letting a key piece to a squad that nearly reached the NBA Finals walk for nothing. If the Nets score big on the market, there’s a chance they let Russell walk. But if ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a magical Christmas.

Russell may not be the guy you want to pair next to Donovan Mitchell, either.

As for Conley and Holiday, the same two questions linger with regards to both:

1) Are they even available?

And 2) Can the Jazz put together an offer good enough to lure either from their current teams?

Again — dicey proposition(s).

Having said all that, Dennis Lindsey, Justin Zanik and the rest of the Jazz brain trust have a track record for pulling rabbits out of their hats. If there’s any chance to pick one of those players up, they’ll do whatever they can to maximize that chance and make something happen (assuming they think as highly of them as fans do).

Still, I’ll be hedging my bets there.

It may not be Rubio (although it certainly still could be) running point for the Jazz in 2019-20, but there’s probably a better than average chance that it’s a player of that ilk, once again.