Utah Jazz: ESPN insider says key rotation players will not be traded

For much of this offseason, speculation has been rampant that the Utah Jazz were considering trading Bojan Bogdanović, Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson in efforts to avoid the dreaded luxury tax.

According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, that outcome is appearing increasingly unlikely.

Jazz fans should be breathing a collective sigh of relief, as each one of these players was instrumental in securing their league leading 52-20 record during the 2020-21 NBA regular season.

Bogdanović may be one of the NBA’s most underrated offensive weapons. Last season, he averaged 17 points per game on an efficient 58.8% True Shooting percentage (TS%). While primarily a scorer, his ability to space the floor while serving as a secondary shot creator was a vital cog in the Utah Jazz‘s league leading 118.4 Offensive Rating.

The Jazz may have kept Joe Ingles just to avoid city-wide riots throughout Salt Lake City. He is the definition of a fan favorite, and with good reason. The 12.1 points and 4.7 assists per game he averaged last season are solid, but actually undersell his value.

According to cleaningtheglass.com, Ingles ranked in the 91st percentile for his On/Off court impact on the Utah Jazz’s points allowed per 100 possessions in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. In spite of his athletic limitations, he’s a smart, fundamentally sound team defender.

Meanwhile, Jordan Clarkson is coming off a well-deserved Sixth Man of the Year award. His 24.8 points per 36 minutes last season ensured that the Jazz had a high-caliber shot creator on the floor for 48 minutes every night. A spark-plug scorer off the bench is a weapon many championship teams have had in their arsenal, and the Utah Jazz will hope to be no exception in 2021-22.

In recent years, the NBA has seen several high quality teams make marginal downgrades to avoid the luxury tax, often with major consequences towards their win total. The Utah Jazz appear to be in no rush to make the same mistake.