Despite what their intentions looked to be coming into the 2022-23 season, the Utah Jazz have been one of the best teams in the NBA thus far. Danny Ainge orchestrated a full-on teardown of the roster this offseason, trading away Royce O’Neale, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic, four of the most important rotation players from the team last season.
With nearly an entirely new rotation, the Jazz have gotten off to a strong 4-1 start this season. They are playing some solid basketball as a lot of the new players are performing at a high level in the early going.
It is anyone’s guess as to how long this level of play will be sustained, but for now, Utah is the biggest surprise in the NBA. Alas, knowing the path that they chose to take in the offseason, some more trades could be on the horizon.
Ainge wants to acquire as many future assets as possible, whether that is players on rookie contracts, players on team-friendly deals or draft compensation. There are a few veterans remaining that could be on the move in Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley Jr., Rudy Gay and Kelly Olynyk.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jordan Clarkson & Utah Jazz Updates
That quartet are the only players over the age of 26 on the roster and will be part of trade rumors throughout the season. However, out of the four, it sounds as if Clarkson’s spot on the Jazz roster is very safe.
Rumors have been all over the place when it comes to Clarkson. He has reportedly been offered in some trades to teams, while others are saying that Utah has no interest in moving him. The most recent report from NBA insider Zach Lowe of ESPN is in the latter camp.
“I’ve heard the same stuff that other people have reported that they are just super reluctant to move Clarkson,” Lowe said. ”They’re really fond of him for whatever reason so I would peg him as the least likely of all these Jazz guys to get traded.”
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jordan Clarkson & Utah Jazz Updates
Coming into the season, there were rumblings that the Jazz liked Clarkson because he was someone that wanted to be in Utah and there weren’t many players that felt the same way. The team wanted to keep him in the locker room for that reason as a veteran presence for the younger players.
Could that have been some posturing from the Jazz, hoping to increase Clarkson’s trade value to get stronger packages put on the table? His status will be something to keep an eye on in the coming weeks as contenders will continue pursuing him as an explosive scoring option that would bolster any second unit.
