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According to Washington Post beat writer Michael Lee, the Utah Jazz are among several teams (including the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, and Detroit Pistons) who are interested in sharp shooting forward Trevor Ariza . That said, it's not likely that the Washington Wizards will easily part with one of their best players.
#wizards confident they can retain Trevor Ariza. Used emotional play this week in attempt to make case about return: http://t.co/MqQfjBPvNp
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) July 3, 2014
Many observers have noticed that Trevor Ariza does a lot of things players on good teams do. The 29 year old player has a ring with the Lakers -- and played 31.4 mpg during their 23 game run to the title. While he has bounced around a lot (NYK, ORL, LAL, HOU, NOH, WAS) he has consistently been a legit "3 and D" guy.
Why does this make sense . . .
Ariza is what some teams hope Kent Bazemore may one day be, that "3 and D" guy. Trevor shot 40.7% from downtown last year, taking 5.7 three point attempts per game. While his health has been a roller coaster for his entire career he did play in 77 games last year. Marvin Williams only played in 66, for a point of reference.
For the playoff bound Wizards he had a net rating of +9.0, and contributed 8.0 Win Shares. He's a very good steals guy (1.6 spg last year), and never hit the glass harder in his career (6.2 rpg) than he did last season. He also had his third best value for apg (2.5) in his career. It was a great contract year for him, and he helped his young team win important games.
The Jazz are young and would really need a veteran like this on the team. The eventual, and obvious, departures of Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams leaves a specific hole on the team that Ariza could fill. As a result, it's a no brainer that the Jazz would be interested in his services.
Why does this not make sense . . .
While Utah may be interested in him, I do not think the interest would be mutual. Not that Utah is a bad place, it's just that at his current age and experience, he is most likely interested in playing for a winner right now. Utah is not going to be a winner for a while.
Furthermore, I have seen every indication that the Wizards are going to try to keep him. Why wouldn't they? They just went to the playoffs for the first time in forever, and have an up and coming team. They brought back Marcin Gortat and are in that "let's keep the band together" phase of their core's success. If he leaves Washington it's not going to be for a rebuilding team that isn't likely to break the bank to pay him. And that fits the Jazz to a T.
Likelihood: 2 / 10
The Jazz just don't have a spot for him right now if they do plan on bringing back Gordon Hayward. Furthermore, Ariza will command a lot of money on the secondary market once the big name players are taken. Money Utah may not have by then because they already spent it on Gordon. And I'm totally fine with that.
However, if Ariza wants to come to Utah to start on a team that won 25 games last year, I do not have many problems with that either. I just don't see it happening.