Utah Jazz: Two names to monitor on the buyout market
By Caleb Manser
Evan Turner
Evan Turner was traded as part of the massive trade last Thursday. He landed in Minnesota but isn’t expected to stick around due to the team’s playoff timeline.
E.T has never been much of a shooter (career 29 percent from three), but his ability to handle the ball and make plays is valuable. He can play point guard, shooting guard, or small forward while not giving up too much defensively.
Turner was part of the Boston Celtics team that went for the playoffs instead of tanking the season. After acquiring Isaiah Thomas at the 2015 trade deadline, the Celtics finished the season 20-11 and snagged the seventh playoff seed in the East.
Evan Turner did not attend Wolves press conference today. Both sides discussing a buyout. Wolves are going young. The vet Turner would like to play for a contender, so the options are being explored.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) February 7, 2020
After his stint in Bean Town, he went off to Rip City and helped the Portland Trail-Blazers reach the Western Conference Finals less than a year ago. In fact, he was teammates with Ed Davis for two seasons.
Another good quality: Turner is durable and rarely misses games. He missed a total of eight games in his first seven seasons in the league.
This addition is a little harder to justify for the Utah Jazz. It would be redundant to add Turner to a Jazz team that already includes Joe Ingles, but when Ingles is slumping it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have Turner available to take his spot.
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When surrounded by good shooters, Turner can make a positive difference off the bench for a playoff team. He’d be a luxury for the Jazz to have in the playoffs against teams with good wings like the Clippers.