Utah Jazz: Tony Bradley secures fourth-year contract option

Utah Jazz big man Tony Bradley has shown enough progress through preseason play for his team to pick up the fourth-year option on his deal.

UPDATE: The Jazz have officially exercised team options on Tony Bradley and Donovan Mitchell.

When the Utah Jazz selected North Carolina big man Tony Bradley with the 28th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft (via the LA Lakers), they knew he was a project player. After all, Bradley was just 19 years old and while he showed promise as a frosh with his offensive rebounding and scoring at the basket, to say his game was rough around the edges at the time would have been an understatement.

Two years later, it would seem that the Jazz have seen enough progress to continue the project for an additional year beyond the 2019-20 season.

Per The Athletic’s Tony Jones, the Jazz are set to exercise their fourth-year option on Bradley’s rookie-scale deal.

Although this is typically the expectation with former first-round picks — obviously, leading scorer Donovan Mitchell‘s option will be picked up by Utah as well — Bradley getting a fourth year hasn’t always been a forgone conclusion.

Over his first two years in the Association, he saw just 12 games and 65 total minutes of action for the Jazz. Even in those moments when Derrick Favors and/or Rudy Gobert were on the mend, Bradley stood by as Ekpe Udoh stepped in to plug the gap.

Through it all, though, his potential has remained a point of intrigue in Jazzland.

Standing at 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan and a best-in-class standing reach approaching 9-foot-5, he boasts an elite-level frame. He’s quick and agile, too — Bradley’s reactive shuttle run time of 2.99 seconds actually bested Mitchell’s 3.07-second mark at the draft combine.

And when he’s suited up for the G-League’s Salt Lake City Stars, he has usually been in a class all his own.

All told, Bradley played in 44 games for the Stars over his first two years as a pro. He averaged 14.5 points and just under nine boards in those contests, converting 58 percent of his field goal attempts along the way.

He logged strong efforts in consecutive summer leagues, too. The real trick, though, would be progressing enough to find success against actual NBA competition. He’s managed to do just that over the last few weeks.

The now 21-year-old was largely sensational during Utah’s exhibition slate, putting up 12 points and 6.2 boards per contest, making 76 percent of his shots and registering a PER of 40.7.

There are definitely still obvious points for improvement — he needs to improve his hands in the post, he needs to be finishing with more authority at his size and it would be nice if he could become more of a rim protector. At the least, though, he’s making enough progress to warrant a deeper look.

Obviously, he’ll begin the season playing behind longtime vet and rebounding maven Ed Davis, but look for him to get more minutes in ’19-20 than ever before. And, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, year four could finally yield the big payoff for Bradley and the Jazz.