Utah Jazz bump Juwan Morgan to main roster, waive Stanton Kidd

Undrafted rookie Juwan Morgan is officially making the move from the Salt Lake City Stars to the Utah Jazz’s 15-man roster.

Following a strong preseason run with the Utah Jazz and a nice five-game stint with their G-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, former Indiana forward Juwan Morgan is getting his first crack at the Association.

On Thursday, the Jazz announced they had signed Morgan to a deal, which NBA scribe Keith Smith is reporting as a two-year, non-guaranteed pact. To make room on the 15-man roster for Morgan, the team has waived forward Stanton Kidd.

Morgan has been involved with the Jazz organization since the summer; after going undrafted in June, he caught on with the team ahead of summer league play. The 6-foot-8, 232-pound forward can play the three and the four (perhaps even the five in a small-ball setting) and has a reputation as a good defender, rebounder and a hard worker.

After failing to make on impact from the perimeter as a collegiate, Morgan has made extending his shot out to 3-point range a priority and the early returns have been encouraging. The sample size is still extremely small, but over his five games with the Stars and two preseason games with Utah, Morgan connected on a combined 4-of-9 shots from deep.

Overall, Morgan had been the Stars’ best player in the early season, averaging 16 points and eight boards per contest, while making nearly 72 percent of his field goals and 43 percent from deep.

If he can become a threat from deep, it would combine with an already versatile skill set to greatly help his cause as a fringe NBA player.

Kidd, meanwhile, was a player that had been on the Jazz’s radar for a couple of years and finally found his way to the team this season after a run overseas. For him, though, a talented Jazz rotation proved to be a tough cookie to crack. He ultimately played in just three games with Utah and failed to score a bucket.

Kidd will still earn the $250,000 downside guarantee on his deal; had he remained with the Jazz through January 10, the team would have been on the hook for nearly $900,000.