Fred VanVleet
At least on the surface, it seems that one of two things is going to happen when it comes to Fred VanVleet and his upcoming free agency. I believe that he’s either going to sign with a contender (possibly in taking a bit of a pay cut) or he’s going to get a max contract offer from someone on the open market. And that someone could end up being the Utah Jazz, who will have the money to theoretically go all-in on a free agent such as VanVleet.
There could be a path toward the Jazz being interested in VanVleet. If this team truly believes in Lauri Markkanen, and there’s really no reason why they wouldn’t, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them invest in a player that could potentially help them take a big step forward this season. VanVleet has the talent and experience to possibly be that player.
At the same rate, there’s an easy case to be made as to why the Jazz shouldn’t pursue VanVleet. Even though Utah did show some signs of potential throughout last season, I find it hard to believe that signing VanVleet would make that much of a difference for the team when it comes to the West standings.