The Utah Jazz will be a cap space team this summer. This free agency class won't exactly feature the cream of the crop, but it will have some game-changers. The one player who makes the most sense as a free agent target is Austin Reaves. However, even if he makes more sense than anyone else that will hit the market, there's a case to be made that the Jazz should steer clear.
It wouldn't necessarily have much to do with Reaves himself, but more about his fit on the roster. Fans would get behind adding Reaves (and for more reasons than adding him), but there would be some concerns, such as the following.
The Jazz don't really need scoring
Putting the ball in the basket is Reaves' calling card, which is why he's due for a big raise. He's proven that he's not just good at it. He's elite at it. Shooting over 50% from the field and almost 38% from three while averaging 26.6 points per game really do spell out an elite scorer.
No one can nor should they take that away from him. However, the Jazz have a pretty potent scoring duo in Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George. They average over 52 points per game between the two of them. Adding Reaves into that mix would make the Jazz's offense more potent, but basketball isn't played in a vaccuum.
Adding him would give the Jazz a third 20-point scorer, which is nice to have, but Reaves may also take touches away from those two while also potentially messing with Ace Bailey's development as a scorer.
Markkanen and George give the Jazz enough offensive firepower that Reaves that may be superfluous. There's nothing wrong with another scoring threat, but it may not necessarily make the Jazz as offensively dynamic as one may think.
He doesn't provide what the Jazz need on their current roster
For everything that Reaves gives, and he can make a team better, no doubt about it, Utah desperately needs more defensively stout personnel. Despite Walker Kessler's presence, the Jazz are pretty lousy defensively.
It's difficult to quantify how much a player contributes defensively. Reaves is not the worst defender, but his individual defense is nothing to brag about. For as good as the Lakers are, they are among the NBA's worst defenses. For everything Reaves could do for them, he wouldn't make it better.
Even if Reaves made Utah's offense harder to stop, their Achilles heel on the other end of the floor would potentially become easier to exploit, making their offense look more like empty calories.
That contract could look bad if he doesn't fit
The Jazz have the means to give Reaves all the money he wants on the open market. His play this year has certainly confirmed that he is very much in line for a nice payday. However, if they max him out, which they will likely offer, that contract might not look good if they don't reap the benefits from signing him.
A max contract is a major investment, which is why the Jazz must be smart about who they invest in. To be perfectly fair, this is the conundrum with any free agent, so it's a risk no matter who they give it to. However, if Reaves doesn't make them better, his contract could turn into an albatross.
Utah has dealt with those in the not-too-distant past (John Collins in his first year, Jordan Clarkson) but having a contract like that for four years would be catastrophic. The only way to get out of deals like those is to include assets, which teams hardly do unless they are that desperate.
This is all hypothetical, and the Jazz don't have to worry about this until Reaves signs on the dotted line and proves that he was not the right guy. It can be kind of scary. Just look at how Paul George has fared with the 76ers. Reaves is definitely not in the same place nor the same player as George, but additions like him come with potentially worrisome caveats.