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SALT LAKE CITY — Faced with the looming possibility of having to give Rodney Hood a significant contract in free agency, the Utah Jazz figuratively opted out on Thursday.
The Utah Jazz have traded guard Rodney Hood to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team deal that primarily nets Utah forward Jae Crowder. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the deal.
The deal also involves the Jazz sending expiring contract Joe Johnson to the Sacramento Kings, according to Wojnarowski. The Kings are trading former Jazz point guard George Hill to the Cavaliers, while Derrick Rose will be sent to the Jazz temporarily to keep the Cavaliers under the 15-man roster limit, though will be waived. In 2024, the Jazz have the option to swap second-round draft picks with the Cavaliers, in a small bet by Utah about the two teams' long-term futures. The Jazz also sent $1.1 million in cash to the Kings to complete the deal, while the Cavaliers sent the Kings $2.1 million.
This isn't the first time the Jazz have tried to trade for Crowder. When Gordon Hayward signed with the Boston Celtics in July, the Jazz tried to net Crowder in a sign-and-trade arrangement that would have opened up salary space for Boston. Instead, the Celtics made a deal with the Pistons involving Avery Bradley, and sent Crowder to the Cavaliers in a separate deal later last summer.
Crowder was one of the most valued two-way wings in the league during his time in Boston, on a very team-friendly 5-year, $35 million contract. But his play in Cleveland hasn't been as good: he's only averaged 8.6 points per game on 42 percent shooting from the field, and 33 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Even worse, some of Crowder's trademark defensive effort has stopped. The Cavaliers are being outscored by five points per 100 possessions when Crowder is on the floor. Clearly, by acquiring Crowder at the expense of Hood, the Jazz believe they can get Crowder back to his former production.
Crowder's father, Corey, played 51 games for the Jazz in 1991-92.
Rose is a former MVP, but his production has dropped off significantly after multiple knee surgeries. Rose has played only 16 games with Cleveland, coming off the bench in nine of their last 10 games. Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania reports that the Jazz will likely waive Rose, as they're already set at the point guard position with Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto.
Utah will likely release former NBA MVP Derrick Rose, league sources tell Yahoo. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 8, 2018
The Jazz also get [two small trade exceptions](https://twitter.com/AlbertNahmad/status/961672544561573892) in the deal, of $3.7 million and $2.3 million respectively. Those would allow the Jazz to acquire that much salary in a limited set of non-aggregating trades that they couldn't otherwise complete if they were over the cap. Such a trade would have to be completed in the next year, before Feb. 8, 2019.
For the Jazz, getting the long term asset in Crowder was the goal in moving Hood, whose contract expires this summer. The Jazz didn't want to pay Hood the contract they expect he will earn in free agency, which the Jazz feared could reach $18 to $20 million per season. And Hood wanted a fresh start, calling himself "isolated" with a new bench role this season after the emergence of Donovan Mitchell.
Johnson also expressed a desire to play on a contending team, and if he wasn't traded, it was likely that the Jazz would buy him out. Johnson played a critical role in the Jazz's first-round playoff series win over the L.A. Clippers in 2017, though had slipped on both ends of the floor in the 2017-18 season. After his trade to Sacramento, Johnson will likely be bought out and find a contending team to sign with. Yahoo's Chris Mannix reports that Golden State and Boston will have interest in Johnson, who is also getting interest from Houston.
This article will be updated throughout the afternoon.
