Kelly Olynyk
It’s fair to say that if anyone has to go, it’s likely to be Kelly Olynyk. Not only is he aging out of the team, but he’s not that far away from being out of the NBA. He’s 32 years old and is without a doubt the oldest player on the team right now. He’s not only the oldest, the second oldest being Jordan Clarkson, but he’s also on an expiring contract.
The kind of contract a team would like back in any deal that involves a star with a long and hefty contract. While getting another big-ish name would be great, trading him sort of depends, however, on if he wants to stick around Utah.
Who knows if he’s interested in sticking around, the team did re-up on Clarkson, so it would stand to reason the Jazz would like to have done the same for Olynyk, but if he doesn’t want to stay, then that’s on him.
Truthfully, no one would blame him if he doesn’t. He got traded to Utah, he didn’t necessarily want to be here. More than that, even if he did want to be with the Jazz, he’s seeing the writing on the wall. In one offseason he went from a starter at two possible positions to a backup at two different positions.
The arrival of John Collins and the drafting of Taylor Hendricks have made it very clear that he’s not needed at power forward anymore, and Walker Kessler is holding down the center spot with an iron grip. For Olynyk, coming off the bench in Utah is the only future he should expect.
And if that’s not a future he wants, we’re back to talking about trades.