Utah Jazz: Eight intriguing (albeit difficult to pull off) Dante Exum trade ideas
Dante Exum is both the Utah Jazz’s most likely trade piece and a very difficult one to move. If the team finds a way to pull it off, though, these eight players make for intriguing targets.
Now that the December 15th deadline, upon which all players signed in free agency this past summer can be traded, has passed, NBA trade season is officially upon us. There are already some rather significant names purportedly on the trade block, and with so many teams legitimately believing they can compete for a title this year, it could very well be a busy trade deadline.
The Utah Jazz are a team that has championship aspirations even if they’ve failed to prove themselves worthy of them up to this point. They’ve won three straight and currently post a 16-11 record, but they’re still two games out of a top-four spot in the West, meaning they most definitely have work yet to do.
One of the main reasons they’ve failed to reach their potential has been the atrocious play of their bench. Veterans Jeff Green, Ed Davis and Emmanuel Mudiay have all had moments, but none have been nearly as impressive as many Jazz fans hoped for. However, the disappointments those three have produced pale in comparison to another Jazzman, namely, Dante Exum.
It’s no secret that Exum has had an injury-riddled career that has significantly held him back from reaching his potential. Even so, there were hopes that this season he’d be able to get back to full health and finally consistently produce at the level we’ve seen him at in brief stints such as the 2018 NBA Playoffs and during a great stretch in January of 2019.
Well, instead, by all accounts Exum is healthy, but he hasn’t even been able to remain consistent enough to earn a place in the rotation. His spot has been fully taken by newcomer Emmanuel Mudiay despite his own inconsistent play. The Jazz have invested quite heavily in Exum, at $9.6 million plus potential incentives, but thus far he has failed to come anywhere close to earning it.
As such, Dante seems like the primary player that the Jazz could use to make a trade if they felt the need to pursue an upgrade. Not only is he out of the rotation, but he has significant enough of a salary that he could bring back something of worth in a similar range for the Jazz.
The bad news, though, is that Utah will likely be hard-pressed to find a team that would be willing to deal for Dante. If he can’t get off the Jazz bench, why should anyone believe that Exum could fit in their rotation? Sure, there is the ‘change-of-scenery’ argument, which quite frankly I believe has some validity at this point. But if a team is looking for a tangible difference-maker, it’s hard to provide evidence that Exum fits the bill.
Even so, there’s always a chance that the Jazz could work some magic and swing a deal involving Exum. Teams could be desperate for the picks Utah could include (though even in that regard, they can really only offer slim pickings), or perhaps Exum’s defensive skill could be intriguing enough to get a squad to pull the trigger.
As tough as it may be to pull off, there are some players out there with a salary range similar to Exum’s that may be wise for the Jazz to pursue in a potential trade, so that’s what we’ll observe here in this exercise. I just have three disclaimers before we begin:
- These players all fall within a salary range of $7-$13 million because that seems about the only feasible way to be able to match salaries with Exum in a deal with the Jazz.
- I realize that it’s going to be extremely tough to trade Exum as he’s done nothing to prove he can consistently help a team. Utah would almost certainly have to include future picks or other assets to even get a team to consider taking him, so all these trades are assuming that would be the case. Even so, it’s entirely possible that neither these nor any trade involving Exum is realistic at all.
- Even with that being the case, in these eight cases, I’ve tried to provide a theory as to why each opposing team might be willing to make the deal for Exum. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re realistic, but they’re far more plausible than just matching up any and every player with a salary similar to Exum’s. For example, as nice as it would be to dream it, teams aren’t going to trade solid players like Fred VanVleet, P.J. Tucker, or Spencer Dinwiddie just because they happen to be in a similar salary range as Exum, so don’t even think about it. Slim though the chances may be, there’s at least a slight possibility of every team being willing to move the player I’ve detailed here.
So with that preface, let’s go ahead and jump right in and look at a few players that the Jazz could consider pursuing in an exchange for Dante Exum.