1. The Utah Jazz moved $41 million of salary
The Utah Jazz didn’t want to be saddled with two massive contracts moving forward, and moving on from Gobert was a great way to free up cap flexibility for the future, giving them the chance to make more moves in the coming weeks. It’s not yet been confirmed which direction the Jazz want to go in following this trade, but if they want to acquire a big name (such as John Collins, Myles Turner or DeAndre Ayton), this gives them the ability to potentially find a way to make it happen.
It doesn’t need to be this off-season either, so if Utah want to play the long, patient game, then this allows them to be patient in waiting for a star playing to pair with Donovan Mitchell down the line.
On the other hand, if the Jazz want to go into a full rebuild mode, similar to Oklahoma City, this new flexibility will allow them to take on a large salary or two in order to stockpile more draft picks for the future, especially if a team like the Knicks come calling for Donovan Mitchell with 4-5 first round picks. It would have no doubt been a tough decision to trade the franchise’s best ever center away, but given all the flexibility it gives them going forward, it was no doubt the best move this franchise could have made.