Re-signing Jusuf Nurkic was certainly a priority for the Utah Jazz. When they got the deal done, they got him back for a modest price of $22 million over two years. The Jazz have looked even smarter since re-signing Nurk, as the Gary Trent Jr. extension could have put them in a bind if they hadn't re-signed him earlier.
Trent was given a four-year contract worth $64 million last week, which everyone can agree is a gross overpay for someone who was a seventh- or eighth-man on a non-playoff team who didn't even average double figures in scoring.
The irony is that before joining the Jazz, Nurkic was considered to be on a bad contract, yet played well enough for the Jazz to give him another eight-figure contract with no one taking issue. That all happened even after Nurkic's season was cut prematurely.
If Utah had played hardball with Nurkic, Trent's extension could have worked against them if they had put off getting him on that new deal. The fact of the matter is, Nurkic had a much better season than Trent did and will be paid at nearly a third of the price.
Nurkic may not have had the biggest offers on the table, but definitely could have used this in contract talks. Making it even better is that Utah took care of this before the Walker Kessler situation got settled.
The cruel irony in all of this
The agent who represents Trent is Rich Paul, who happens to be Nurkic's agent. Again, no matter how you feel about Paul, he got his client paid a hell of a lot more than what anyone thought he was going to get.
With Nurkic, he got a fair deal that no one from either side is complaining about really. He is not underpaid for what he brings to the table, but he's not overpaid either. At least Paul and the Jazz worked out a deal, and did no in little time.
That may have also deen indicative of Nurkic's desire to stick around. He made it clear once he was traded to Utah how much he was going to embrace it all. That never faltered, so it actually would have been pretty shocking if Nurkic actually left.
Maybe what he told Paul more than anything was that he just wanted a moderate price as long as he got it done. The Jazz have certainly had an eventful offseason, but looking at what the Bucks have done - and that goes beyond what they paid Trent - and they can take solace knowing it's been far from miserable for them.
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