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The Jazz have some roster decisions to make this offseason

sarah todd
·4 min read
Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy gives directions to his players as the Jazz and Clippers play at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. Exactly what players Hardy will be directing in 2023-24 remains somewhat up in the air.

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After trading away Damian Jones, the Jazz’s roster will be at the maximum of 15 players.

Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton and Simone Fontecchio were already secured in their contracts. The Jazz then guaranteed Kelly Olynyk’s deal for the 2023-24 season, while Talen Horton-Tucker and Jordan Clarkson all exercised their player options to remain on the roster.

The Jazz will of course be adding their three first-round draft picks (Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh), as well as John Collins after acquiring him from the Atlanta Hawks. That brings us to 13 players.

But the Jazz are also going to need to make decisions on the future of Luka Samanic, Kris Dunn and Vernon Carey Jr., who are all on nonguaranteed deals. The Jazz have until mid-October before these player deals would become guaranteed.

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Samanic and Carey are both on the Jazz’s Summer League roster, and I think that it would be a pretty safe bet to expect the Jazz to give both players a chance to showcase themselves before moving on from them.

I also think it’s very possible that the Jazz end up guaranteeing Dunn’s contract, considering that $2.5 million for a high-level backup point guard is a hard deal to pass up, especially considering Dunn’s success last season.

But, if the Jazz follow all of this to a T (and there’s absolutely no guarantee they will) it would mean they will have an absolutely full roster of 15 players. That could be what they decide to do, but the Jazz have traditionally liked to keep a roster spot open throughout the season, so there might be some more roster massaging or some other deals made that change the makeup of the team.

New with the Jazz

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How to pass the offseason

I recently moved in with my partner, and as we were combining our lives, we decided to keep my coffee table and give it a bit of new life.

I bought primer, paint and finish. I took apart the table and cleaned all of the hardware so it was looking brand new. Over four days I carefully and painstakingly took what was once a black coffee table that was scratched and chipped and old and turned it into a bright, golden yellow centerpiece for our living room.

It’s certainly not perfect. I know where every imperfection in the paint job is and I wish that I could have done a better job in a couple of places. But I really love this table.

I loved the table before. It has great bones. But now it feels like it’s a fresh, new, joyful representation of this new chapter of life. And, because I completed the project myself, it gives me pride and a feeling of accomplishment.

So how can you pass the time in the offseason? Take on a DIY project!

Stat of the week

Once the Jazz officially add John Collins to their roster, he will be the highest paid player on the team, making $25.3 million in the 2023-24 season.

From the archives

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Extra points

  • Why trade for John Collins was a no-brainer for the Utah Jazz (Deseret News)

  • What the Jazz rookies had to say after arriving in Salt Lake City (Deseret News)

  • Taylor Hendricks is the versatile player the Jazz were looking for (Deseret News)

  • Utah Jazz rookies are ready to go into ‘grind mode’ (Salt Lake Tribune)

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Up next: SLC Summer League

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