Part of doing the rebuild the right way is assembling the best long-term roster. Sometimes that includes waiving players who haven't been bad, but are waived to make room for better players. The Utah Jazz could face this exact predicament this offseason.
The Jazz will receive a high lottery pick when the 2024-25 season ends. Taylor Hendricks will be back from injury, and the Jazz will likely give him minutes to develop. The Jazz may also make some trades that could add more players to their roster.
All of that is pretty exciting, but there will only be so many roster spots that can be filled. Adding more exciting players to the Jazz roster may mean cutting other rotation players, even if they've shown that they're NBA material.
While discussing the state of the Jazz's rebuild, Deseret News' Sarah Todd mentioned one particular Jazz player who may not be on the team next season that should raise some eyebrows.
"The Jazz have three players whose contracts are not guaranteed for next season — Johnny Juzang, Svi Mykhailiuk and K.J. Martin — of those players, Martin is probably the only one that could be returning next year," Todd wrote.
Mykhailiuk not returning to the Jazz next season isn't all that surprising because his team-friendly deal makes him easier to cut. Nor is Martin sticking around, for that matter, because he has shown he could be a dependable fixture in their rotation for years to come. Cutting Juzang would be somewhat of a surprise because, well, he's not a bad player.
After he worked his way up from the SLC Stars, the Jazz rewarded Juzang with a team-friendly contract last summer. Utah's even expanded his role this season, and while he hasn't thrived in it, the moment hasn't been too big for him.
His three-point percentage has gone down this season from 41.6% to 37.5%, but a dip is to be expected with more attempts, more attention, and more game film on him. If Juzang became a disaster from three, then this would be an easy call, but he's still been respectable.
Juzang also went from playing 20 games last season to 46 this season, which includes 10 starts. The Jazz are rebuilding, which opened up opportunities for him to play, but still, Juzang has not faltered in a bigger role.
The Jazz should only cut him for someone better
It would be a shame to see Juzang, who had to work from the ground up to get to where he is, get cut from the Jazz. However, it's a hardship about the NBA that teams will get rid of players, despite how well they've fared, when they have the chance to get an upgrade.
It's fair to say that Juzang doesn't necessarily deserve to be cut after what he's shown, but in the NBA, sentiment doesn't win out. If Utah believes a more talented player can fill Juzang's spot, no one should tell them to do otherwise.
Juzang has definitely shown he should be in the NBA. Because of circumstances that are out of his control, he may have to look for more opportunities this summer, but he's shown enough that latching onto another team