Full terms for Russell Westbrook's second buyout with Utah Jazz revealed
By Matt John
It is common knowledge by now that the Utah Jazz re-acquired Russell Westbrook only to waive him like they did the first time. Doing so paved the way for Westbrook to then sign with the Denver Nuggets.
However, the only detail remaining is how much money Westbrook gave back to the Jazz after they bought him out. Spotrac's Keith Smith gave the full details of how much money Westbrook left on the table when they agreed to a buyout via his X account.
Russell Westbrook gave up $1.7M in his buyout with the Utah Jazz, a league source told @spotrac.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 23, 2024
Westbrook reduced his dead money cap hit from just over $4.0M to just over $2.3M.
What remains to be seen is how much money Westbrook will get from the Nuggets, but that's not Utah's problem. The bottom line is that this is one of those transactions that typically wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't for A. The fact that the Jazz acquired one of the former faces of the NBA and B. This marks the second time they have done this with Westbrook.
Well, what's done is done and it's no skin off the Jazz's nose. At the very least, it was entertaining subplot in what's been a pretty mundane offseason for the Jazz overall even though their youth movement is looking very promising. It was nice of Westbrook to give back some money when he didn't have to, but it's likely the contract the Nuggets will sign him to will make up for what he gave back to Utah.
Jazz still have plenty of money left during the 2024 Offseason
The Jazz went into the 2024 NBA Offseason with plenty of money to spend, and even if Westbrook hadn't left any money on the table, it wouldn't have eaten much of the cap room they have.
All that remains is what the Jazz will do from here. They could try giving a massive one-year contract to any of the available free agents, but it hardly seems necessary to pay that much for anyone just for the sake of doing so.
The Jazz could also try to acquire another expendable player who they have no use for like they did with Westbrook, but that remains to be seen. The offseason's not over yet, but man has it been kind of a slog. Not that anyone was expecting anything epic to begin with.
The Lauri Markkanen trade rumors have been interesting, but despite report after report, there really hasn't been anything riveting on that front for some time now.