Following their disastrous lottery results, the Utah Jazz won't land any big fish this offseason. However, they can still build their next contender the right way even if the results won't come right away, and one of the ways they can is by inquiring about one of their reported trade targets from months ago: Kevin Huerter.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto reported that the Jazz had interest in Huerter around the NBA trade deadline.
"Fellow Bulls guard Kevin Huerter is entering the final year of his deal at $18 million and drew interest from the Utah Jazz in trade talks after initially being acquired by Chicago shortly before the trade deadline, league sources told HoopsHype."
Anyone familiar with the Jazz trade rumors around the NBA trade deadline can probably connect the dots. The Jazz were on the verge of trading John Collins to the Sacramento Kings before De'Aaron Fox's abrupt trade request squashed it. Had that not happened, Collins would be a King, and the player they would have sent to Utah to match the salaries would have been Huerter.
Huerter is a sharpshooter, though he is coming off a down season. A career shooter of 37.5% from deep, Huerter shot 33.8% from distance overall this past season. Although after the Kings traded him to the Bulls, he looked more like his old self, raising that percentage back to 37.6% in 26 games.
Even though the Bulls were a lottery team, they had a much better season than the Jazz, as they appeared in the play-in again. However, trading Zach LaVine and potentially trading Nikola Vucevic this offseason could signal they are finally rebuilding. That could also mean Huerter is gone this offseason.
The Jazz are rebuilding, but they want to put up a better front than they did this season. Even if it may not lead to more wins, acquiring Huerter strongly signals that they want a more competitive team next season.
How the Jazz could go beyond acquiring Huerter
The Jazz have many expiring contracts this offseason, with Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, and presumably John Collins. Teams value cap flexibility more than ever, so the Jazz could take advantage of the Bulls if that's what the latter wants.
Huerter is expiring too, but the Bulls have a player on their payroll that they would like to get off: Patrick Williams. The wing has not only failed to progress, but also has issues staying healthy. The Bulls will pay him $18 million annually for the next four years.
Utah could offer Chicago their expiring contracts to acquire Huerter and take on the contract of Williams. In exchange, the Bulls could trade them the No. 12 pick in the lottery and potentially more depending on what Danny Ainge could squeeze out of them.
This wouldn't make the Jazz much better than they were this season, but it can make that much less of an embarrassment. The Jazz don't necessarily need to drive a hard bargain with the Bulls for Huerter, but they could certainly see this as an opportunity to add to their treasure trove of assets.