Jazz to sign Greg Monroe to help fill backup center minutes with Hassan Whiteside ailing

DALLAS — The Utah Jazz will be signing free agent center Greg Monroe to a 10-day contract, KSL.com has confirmed

It's expected for Monroe to meet the team in Los Angeles as the team finishes its six-game road trip Tuesday against the Clippers.

The Jazz will be Monroe's fourth team this season; he has appeared in 10 games this season with Minnesota, Washington and Milwaukee, and averaged 5.5 points and 5.2 rebounds as he helped fill in for teams struggling with COVID-19.

He made history in December when he became the NBA-record 541st player used in the league this season when he checked in off the bench for the Minnesota Timberwolves in a win over the Boston Celtics.

That marked his return to an NBA roster for the first time since 2019; he had 11 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes.

Monroe will fill Utah's 15th and final roster spot — at least for the next 10 days — and could see some playing time, too.

Second-year center Udoka Azubuike had season-ending surgery on Friday, and Hassan Whiteside is battling a right foot sprain. Whiteside missed Friday's loss to the Charlotte Hornets and will travel back to Utah for more imaging tests on his foot.

As of now, it's unknown how long Whiteside will be out.

"In the Brooklyn game (last Monday), he started feeling some soreness," Snyder said. "And anytime you have soreness in a foot, that's something that you need to be really mindful of. … I think we found it's a hard thing to predict how long or how quickly, which I think has been the case for us with a number of situations and you just have to be patient.

"The guys in health performance are doing everything they can do," Snyder continued. "I know that Hassan wants to play. But the focus right now is on getting healthy so that he can play. He's played through some pain with it, but there's a limit to what you can do."

With Whiteside out for an undetermined time, it left the Jazz needing some size. Utah's attempts to play small at center this season have been inconsistent at best, and really bad at worst.

Enter Monroe.

Monroe's final 10-day contract with the Bucks expired in February. That does make him eligible for the postseason, if the Jazz choose to sign him to an end-of-season deal.

That said, Utah's final playoff roster spot is still likely to go to Trent Forrest, whose two-way deal would need to be converted into a standard contract in order for him to play in the postseason. Forrest has appeared in 57 games this season and averaged 18.3 minutes per contest since January 19.

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