Multi-year Utah Jazz forward inks a deal elsewhere

Ex-Utah Jazz reserve Juwan Morgan is now heading to the Eastern Conference.

Following four years in college at Indiana, Juwan Morgan went undrafted in 2019 before signing a two-year contract with the Utah Jazz about a month into the 2019-20 season. Although he spent a chunk of his rookie campaign in the G-League, his importance grew after Bojan Bogdanovic’s season-ending wrist injury.

And he even started two games in the bubble during the 2020 NBA Playoffs.

This past season, though, Morgan drew zero starts and received double-digit minutes in only three games. Then in late July, the Jazz decided not to extend a qualifying offer to the 6-foot-7, 235-pound power forward, making him an unrestricted free agent.

New opportunity for the former Utah Jazz benchwarmer

Per multiple reports on Wednesday, the 24-year-old is on his way to the East Coast with eyes on extending his NBA career. But Morgan’s training-camp deal with the Boston Celtics doesn’t guarantee he will land on the opening-day roster. It does, however, at least give him a shot at a two-way contract for the upcoming season.

With Utah’s additions of Rudy Gay in free agency and Eric Paschall in a trade, it’s doubtful Morgan would have seen regular playing time with the 2021-22 Jazz.

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Whether the solid but limited bruiser ends up benefitting the Celtics to a greater degree remains to be seen. Yet according to Brian Robb of Mass Live, Morgan will likely battle Jabari Parker in training camp for Boston’s final roster spot.

Across two seasons in Utah, Juwan Morgan played in only 50 regular-season games. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 5.6 minutes per outing while shooting 51.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point land, and 54.5 percent from the charity stripe.