Jazz tabbed as best landing spot for 23-year-old 3&D wing
By Matt John
The Utah Jazz have a lot of cap flexibility. They've already used some of it to absorb Russell Westbrook's contract. While they could spend the rest of the offseason acquiring and waiving other players, they could put it to good use.
Not many free agents are left on the open market, but chief among them is Isaac Okoro, who remains a restricted free agent. At 23 years old and being a restricted free agent, Okoro still has promise that could be of use to a young team like the Jazz.
Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey explained why he believes the Jazz are the best landing spot for Okoro, citing his youth and their lack of wing depth.
"The Jazz don't have many pure wings under contract, and Okoro is only 23 years old. He fits the timeline of Utah's mostly young and developing roster. If he proves to be too good for a team that should be tanking and angling for lottery odds in 2025, a three-and-D wing on a reasonable contract could have trade value in February."
He also added that while Utah may not necessarily want to improve their ceiling, it's not a bad idea to hurt Cleveland's cap flexibility.
"Utah should be in the market for losses in 2024-25. Adding someone like Cooper Flagg to this young core could be a game-changer," Bailey wrote. "Pushing some other team over the luxury tax would be a nice fringe benefit, too."
This demonstrates how the Jazz hold a lot of cards in free agency
Having cap flexibility during a time in which many teams a. don't have that and b. will try like mad to avoid the restrictions with the NBA's second tax apron greatly benefit the Jazz since they are one of the select few teams who has it.
They can use this to their advantage because they can use this to extrapolate draft assets from teams trying to shed salary. Better yet, in this hypothetical scenario, if the Cavaliers opted to match a potential expensive offer sheet for Okoro that the Jazz gave him, it ties up their cap sheet.
They pretty much did exactly this when they signed Paul Reed. The Sixers matched, and have since waived Reed one year later, but this is something the Jazz can weaponize going forward. It's all a matter of what they can get and who would come over to get it?