Utah Jazz do the Exhibit 10 shuffle, SLC Stars roster taking shape

The Utah Jazz have been active in making cuts and signings on the back end of their roster with their G-League affiliate in mind.

Preseason hoops are on the books for the Utah Jazz and, as such, VP of basketball ops Dennis Lindsey, GM Justin Zanik and head coach Quin Snyder are making their final decisions on the team’s roster for opening night.

For the most part, we know the players that will be on the team to tip-off the 2019-20 campaign. However, Utah’s braintrust is still making moves on the back end of the roster and laying the foundation for the Jazz’s G-League affiliate — the Salt Lake City Stars — in the process.

On Thursday, guard Kyle Collinsworth and forward Juwan Morgan were both waived by the team. In short order, the Jazz completed their long-rumored signing of former Idaho point guard Mike Scott and also re-acquired center Isaac Haas.

Ultimately, Scott and Haas will be waived as well; look for all four players find their way to the Stars.

It’s all part of the NBA’s new, mid-October tradition, something I’m calling the Exhibit 10 shuffle.

Teams have until the day before the regular season tips off to trim their rosters down from a 20-man camp crew to the 15-man regular season maximum. As such, the Jazz can funnel players through their roster and down to the Stars up until that deadline.

This is accomplished via Exhibit 10 deals, which pay a bonus if a waived player ends up with his former team’s affiliate squad and remains there for 60 days. Teams can dole out as many as six Exhibit 10 contracts.

There are also four affiliate player designations at their disposal, which allow prospects to be automatically allocated to a team’s affiliate if they sign a G-League contract. However, affiliate players remain free agents and can be acquired by any of the Association’s 30 teams.

Morgan had inked an Exhibit 10 pact with the club in August. The 6-foot-8, 232-pound former Indiana forward played well in two preseason games, averaging seven points and four rebounds in less than 12 minutes per contest.

The former BYU standout Collinsworth (6-foot-6, 210 pounds) signed with the Jazz last week, but didn’t see any game action to close out the preseason. He spent significant time with the Dallas Mavericks during the 2017-18 campaign, averaging three points and three boards per contest over 33 appearances.

Haas, who has elite size at 7-foot-2 and nearly 300 pounds, spent last season in the Jazz’s developmental system after going undrafted out of Purdue in 2018. In 33 games (21 starts) with the Stars, he averaged 10 points and five boards per contest.

Although Scott’s signing just became official, he came to terms on a deal with Utah in September. The six-foot point-man has played in Lithuania, Croatia and, most recently, Poland since going undrafted in 2015.

Along with two-way players Jarrell Brantley and Justin Wright-Foreman, the aforementioned players will likely form the Stars’ core for next season. If Frenchman William Howard loses out to Stanton Kidd in his battle for Utah’s 15th roster spot, he could end up with the Stars as well.

Per The Salt Lake Tribune’s Andy Larsen, Kidd’s deal precludes him from playing for the Stars this season.