Have the Utah Jazz emerged as a potential landing spot for Damian Lillard?

The Damian Lillard situation got weird overnight, and now the Utah Jazz could be back in the running.

The Portland Trail Blazers are apparently done dealing with the Miami Heat, at least when it comes down to shipping Damian Lillard down to South Beach. The Heat have, obviously, not been engaging with the Blazers in talks for Lillard, making any trade between the two teams more and more unluckily.

It’s gotten so bad that the Trail Blazers are no longer even trying to get a deal done with the Heat, with the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors becoming teams that could possibly land Lillard. The Bulls are in win-now mode but likely couldn’t get a deal done independently, as most of their assets went elsewhere due to several major moves over the last few years.

The Raptors were supposed to be rebuilding, but it looks like that may no longer be the case, like the Bulls, the Raptors don’t have a lot of considerable assets to offer up in a trade. They have Scottie Barnes, but the Raptors seem keen to keep him; otherwise, they would’ve traded him for Kevin Durant more than likely when the former Nets star was looking to get out of Brooklyn.

And honestly, there’s not a lot of teams that could make a trade for Lillard. The Boston Celtics may be able to, they have the picks needed, but they’d have to give up Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon, plus Al Horford, to land Lillard. Though, in that trade situation you could probably ask for someone like Keon Johnson in return to help balance the loss of so many guards.

The only other team that likely has the picks and players to get things done is of course the Utah Jazz, and while the NBA media haven’t named the Jazz as a potential landing spot, they are the team that makes the most sense. They have the draft picks needed to help make the move happen, an obvious need for a starting point guard, and the young players to entice the Blazers.

The Jazz could ship over Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Talor Hendricks, and Simone Fontecchio for salary (and Sexton/Hendricks for young talents), then ship over two or three first-rounders (one protected), to get Lillard. Sure, Salt Lake City isn’t Miami, but on a team with Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, and Kelly Olynyk, it’ll be his best lineup, maybe ever.

Plus, you know the Jazz would then try and find another trade to bolster the team around the core. As long as the Jazz don’t give up too many future draft picks, and keep guys like Brice Sensabaugh or Keyonte George, this trade could work without killing the future of the team.

As of right now, however, the Jazz aren’t being mentioned as a potential landing spot for Lillard.