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According to Adrian Wojnarowski the Utah Jazz have traded Rayson Tucker to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jazz are sending G Rayjon Tucker and a future second-round pick to the Cavaliers for cash, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 27, 2020
This move looks like an attempt to save as much salary as possible.
Rayjon Tucker has $340K guaranteed (out of $1.5M) with the balance fully protected if he is not waived by Nov. 29.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) November 27, 2020
The Jazz open up a roster spot (now with 14) and save toward the tax.
Good value with Cleveland on the 2027 second.
Equal to paying $340K for a second.
After signing Derrick Favors and Jordan Clarkson, the Jazz have been very active looking to shave salary off the edges to get below the luxury tax.
The Jazz also get the benefit of an open roster spot with this move. If another team waves a player the Jazz like they can now pick them up. It also has to be said that if things go wrong with the Rudy Gobert, negotiations this opens up options for the Jazz if there were some kind of trade.
Because of the ongoing negotiations with Gobert it’s obvious there are a lot of machinations behind the scenes to get things in order. The good news, if there is any for having to trade assets to get cash, is that the Jazz are playing a contender's game. If Utah weren’t going for it they wouldn’t be dealing with problems like this. The signings they’ve made are the moves that a contender makes. Still, it’s never ideal to have to make trades just to clear space.