Utah’s Recent Roster Moves Have a Catch
The Utah Jazz have been very busy filling out their roster as of late.
As soon as the ink dried on Lauri Markkanen’s 5 year, $238 million contract, Utah finally had the clarity needed to finalize the rest of the 2024-2025 Utah Jazz squad.
Two days after, Utah signed Svi Mykhailiuk, a journeyman shooting guard with 6 years of experience.
Mykhailiuk has 293 games under his belt with 7 different teams, most recently the defending champion Celtics, averaging 6.3 PPG and 1.2 rebounds.
In 1,595 career shot attempts, 65 percent have been from distance, shooting the three at a near 36 percent clip.
Utah inked the shooting specialist to a four year, $15 million dollar deal.
Next up was Drew Eubanks, a center coming off 75 games with the Phoenix Suns.
Eubanks is a six year pro averaging 5.9 PPG and 4.6 total boards a night as a career reserve.
Despite only standing at 6-9, Eubanks is your throwback center for the most part.
No outside shooting, some shot blocking (0.8 a game), rebounding and finishing inside via footwork and pump fakes are what you can expect, with maybe a surprise finish off a dribble drive mixed in.
Eubanks collected a two year, $9.75 million dollar deal from the Jazz.
Utah then awarded long time two-way player Johnny Juzang with a four year, $11.43 million dollar contract.
Juzang was signed as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA in 2022 and has been with the Jazz ever since, spending the majority of his time with the Salt Lake City Stars.
Last year Juzang got a crack at 20 games, even garnering his first NBA starts, totaling 5.
In that time frame Johnny shot nearly 42 percent from three and averaged 7.2 PPG with 1.2 assist on about 5.5 shots a night.
Juzang didn’t make his first appearance last season until the season was 60 games in, but would post double digit scoring in 6 of his 20 games.
This would include a 27 point outing in Golden State in which he went 7/8 from three.
The front office then made sure to shore up the 32nd overall pick in Kyle Filipowski to another four year deal, this one worth $12 million, a contract worthy of a first round selection.
Filipowski shook off a rough Salt Lake summer league debut to be a floor spacing threat in Las Vegas in which the Jazz are likely intrigued by.
At least they made it appear as such by making a commitment not typically shown to 2nd round selections.
Kyle put up 11 PPG and 6 boards throughout the summer league.
So to recap recent transactions not including camp deals like Babacar Sane or two-way contract transactions like releasing Taevion Kinsey in favor of Oscar Tshiebwe, here’s what Jazz fans are looking at the last couple of days:
All-Star Lauri Markkanen: 5 years
Svi Mykhailiuk: 4 years
Johnny Juzang; 4 years
Rookie Kyle Filipowski: 4 years
Drew Eubanks: 2 years
Most of these deals make it seem as if Utah selected these players to build and grow alongside Lauri Markkanen right?
Not quite what you were expecting when Danny Ainge said the Jazz were “going big game hunting” I'm sure.
At first glance, any signing that isn't Markkanen or arguably Filipowski, seems like an odd way to build for the future.
That is until you read the fine print.
All of these contracts are making moves to fill out a roster now while providing ultimate flexibility for the future.
Every single one of these deals with the exception of Lauri Markkanen has a caveat.
The years listed in the contract mean very little as non-guaranteed clauses run rampant throughout:
Svi Mykhailiuk: 4 years, first year guaranteed, last three non-guaranteed.
Johnny Juzang; 4 years, year one is fully guaranteed, last three years are non-guaranteed.
Rookie Kyle Filipowski: 4 years, first two years guaranteed, third is non-guaranteed, fourth is a team option.
Drew Eubanks: 2 years, non-guaranteed for year two.
Notice a theme?
Utah is promising no one a future while allowing them this year to impress them.
Tony Jones of the Athletic sums it up best:
Utah is prolonging the rebuild in a good way by understanding they likely will not compete for anything worthwhile this season.
By making sure they have flexibility and money to spend a year from now when Markkanen and Utah fans will expect growth, Utah filled out a roster while remaining the ultimate wild card moving forward.
It’s a lateral move now that open up multiple possibilities down the road.
These contracts are extremely tradeable and have little to no consequences for the Jazz if or when they decide to move in a different direction.
Utah is giving out opportunities now, whiteout sacrificing their future next.
It will be another rough year in Utah, but based on the roster and it’s layout, the Jazz have no shortage of options or methods to rebuild themselves into a playoff team in the coming years especially be retaining a player like Lauri Markkanen.
The question now is, will Eubanks, Mykhailiuk or Juzang do enough to be a part of Utah’s unknown but ambitious future or will they be disposable options that Utah looks to move on from a season from now?
Either way, Utah has made sure to keep both sides of the table completely open while they work the long game.