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SALT LAKE CITY — On Monday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Memphis Grizzlies are “intensifying talks to potentially move franchise cornerstone Mike Conley Jr.”
One of the teams in pursuit of the point guard? The Utah Jazz.
“Memphis has been in conversations with the Jazz and Utah is a frontrunner to acquire Conley should the Grizzlies trade the point guard during draft week,” Charania reported.
Big picture: The Jazz are heading into free agency looking for a lead guard. Point guard Ricky Rubio’s contract is up and he's said the Jazz have told him he’s not their top priority. It's unlikely a starting point guard-caliber player will be available with the Jazz's No. 23 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. So, the Jazz have two options: find one in free agency or get one via trade.
Conley’s contract situation: Conley would represent an upgrade for the Jazz at point guard. He averaged 21.1 points and 6.1 assists last year while shooting 43.8% from the field and 36.4% from the 3-point line. But he’s also got a pretty hefty contract.
Conley has two years left on a deal that will pay him $32,511,623 next season and $34,502,130 in 2020-21. He’d be the highest-paid Jazz player.
How would this deal get done? In a nutshell, the Jazz would need to send enough salary back to match Conley’s hefty contract or waive enough salary to absorb Conley’s deal into cap space.
Matching salaries trade: Tony Jones from The Athletic reported the Jazz are reluctant to include Derrick Favors in the deal. Without Favors, things get tricky.
If the Jazz trade for Conley by July 1, they'll have to send out at least $24.34 million for the deal to work. If they trade for him after July 1, that number jumps to $25.93 million.
If the Jazz guarantee Favors' $16.9 million salary and use it in the deal, thoses numbers are easy to get to. If not, the Jazz would likely have to look at the likes of Jae Crowder, Joe Ingles or Dante Exum — and likely two of the three — to make the deal work.
This year’s No. 23 first-round pick, which would almost certainly be included in the deal, would not be able to count for salary unless the deal is completed 30 days after the pick is signed. The official timing of the trade could be all over the place depending on this and other factors, but an agreement would likely have to be in place by Thursday's draft.
Cap space trade: The Jazz could waive Favors’ $16.9 million salary, along with some of the other nonguaranteed contracts — Korver, Raul Neto, Georges Niang and Royce O’Neale — to help open up enough cap space to take on Conley’s deal without sending as many players back. Something like Favors' waived salary plus trading Exum (or Crowder) and other minimum salaries could work.
Another thing to consider: If the Jazz stay above the cap following the trade (meaning they don't use cap space to take on Conley's contract), they will retain the full $9,246,000 mid-level exception. If the Jazz are under the cap, they will only get a $4,760,000 exception.
