The Utah Jazz have a full roster at the moment, which makes certain dilemmas like re-signing Kevin Love remain ambiguous. Even so, they could still make a trade before the offseason wraps up thankst to the semi-sizable $15 million Walker Kessler TPE. They did something like this when they acquired Georges Niang last summer.
When Utah brought back Niang, many were surprised and/or confused by the decision, but no one was necessarily angered by it. Niang was a fan favorite in Utah because he worked his way up when they first brought him in. He was a veteran presence who spaced the floor. A solid player who likely wasn't going to get in the way of their tank.
The only hangup was that because of a mysterious foot injury, Niang never suited up for the Jazz. In fact, he never even suited up at all, which is kind of sad that it hurt his value enough that his current market isn't exactly strong.
But anyway, bringing Niang back worked out in the end because his salary helped the Jazz pull off the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade. No one's saying Utah should do it again in the hopes of getting another player like JJJ down the line.
More like, the Jazz should make a trade like that again either in the hopes of him helping out the team either internally or on the court or to be used in a blockbuster trade should the opportunity present itself like it did last year.
Jazz could make Niang-esque trade to address roster needs
Niang was a pretty innocent deal for Utah. Again, even if he didn't play for them, it still worked to their benefit in the end. There's no pressure on them to truly capitalize because we won't know how good Utah will be until they take the floor with their new-and-improved roster.
But even so, there are questions about their defense post-Walker Kessler trade. Utah doesn't have to do anything right away and likely will try to see if their roster as a whole could step up before looking into a deal.
At the same time, the opportunity is right there. The Jazz still have draft assets and young players that they can offer. Granted, that can be for someone better than Niang at his peak. No one saw the Niang trade happening when it did, but to be fair, no one could have seen the JJJ trade happening before it did too.
Whether it's for someone who could help now or for someone who could be part of a bigger trade down the line, there are worse ideas out there.
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