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LAS VEGAS — The Utah Jazz have traveled to Las Vegas for the first day of Vegas Summer League, but Jazz executives are still tracking the movements of the rest of the league. Here are Friday's Jazz notes.
Shelvin Mack signs contract with Orlando
Jazz backup point guard Shelvin Mack has signed an impressive 2-year, $12 million contract with the Orlando Magic.
The 27-year-old point guard averaged 22 minutes per game in 55 contests last year for the Jazz, alternating time with Dante Exum as the lead option behind George Hill. But Mack's new contract pays him a significant amount, and the Jazz will be happy to allocate the time Mack used to Exum and Donovan Mitchell. Ricky Rubio also figures to be healthier than Hill thanks to his age, so Rubio should use some of Mack's minutes as well.
Celtics trade Avery Bradley to open up cap space
We've been tracking the possibility that the Celtics complete a sign-and-trade agreement with Utah in order to open up the cap space to give Gordon Hayward a max contract. On Friday, the Celtics solved that problem by trading away shooting guard Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons along with a second round pick for Detroit forward Marcus Morris.
That means that the Celtics won't be trading Jae Crowder or any other players to the Jazz for the rights to sign Gordon Hayward. What may still happen is a sign-and-trade, though. Such a deal would open up a Traded Player Exception for the Jazz, which they could use to acquire another player at Hayward's salary or less in the next 12 months.
The Jazz have done this before: they completed a sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls when Carlos Boozer signed with the Bulls. Doing so allowed them the exception that they later used to acquire Al Jefferson from Minnesota.
Dante Exum out, Travis Leslie in
As planned, Dante Exum has stayed in Utah after a successful run at point guard for the Jazz's summer league team. That opened up a spot on the roster for Utah's entry into Vegas Summer League.
Travis Leslie will fill that spot. Leslie has been on the Jazz's radar for a long time, as evidenced by a 10-day contract he signed with the team in March 2013. He didn't end up getting on the court during those few days, though.
Leslie is coming off of an impressive run in the Orlando Summer League, playing for the Indiana Pacers. There, he averaged 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He had a 20 PER in five summer league games.
