Jazz trade Mills, Eubanks to Clippers for expiring contracts and a 2nd-round pick


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are swapping expiring contracts — and getting a second-round pick for their trouble.

Utah is sending Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills to the Los Angeles Clippers for Mo Bamba, PJ Tucker, a future second-round pick and cash.

Eubanks and Mills both signed with the Jazz over the summer to bring some veteran leadership to a young team ("pups can't raise pups" as Jazz management has said). Mills signed for a one-year deal and Eubanks inked a two-year deal, but the second season is non-guaranteed.

Bamba and Tucker are both on expiring contracts and neither will actually make it to Utah. Sources said the Jazz will hold onto Tucker's salary until Thursday's trade deadline in case they need it to facilitate other trades; and if no deal comes to fruition, he will be waived. Bamba will also be waived following the trade.

Tucker has been away from the Clippers all season, with the team announcing in October that it would "continue working with P.J. and his representative to find the best situation for him moving forward."

That path forward will likely be the buy-out market for the 39-year-old veteran forward. Such a move would be a long time coming for Tucker, who requested to be dealt at last year's deadline.

"I want to be somewhere where I'm needed, wanted and can do it all," Tucker said last February. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I have my fingers crossed and I'm hoping to go somewhere else, whether I get bought out and choose where I go or where I can play."

With the Jazz prioritizing youth, it's safe to say he is not needed in Utah. Bamba, meanwhile, is a reserve center that the Jazz also plan to waive.

With the move, the Clippers got under the luxury-tax line, giving them options with the trade deadline approaching.

For the Jazz, Saturday's deal comes down to this: They got a second-round pick for the relatively low price of $1.8 million and gave themselves some more dead salary to move during the final week of trading season.

Was that enough value for rescuing the Clippers from the luxury tax? Maybe, maybe not, but both Mills and Eubanks were minor pieces that aren't in Utah's long-term plans. So it wasn't a big price to pay for a pick and some added flexibility.

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