The Utah Jazz are the Western Conference's up and coming team, but recent NBA trade rumors see them as a team that could make a move.
The latest buzz has the Jazz willing to take back one of their "prodigal sons" in Deron Williams. It should be recalled that Williams engaged in a feud with former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan (who, at the time, was the longest tenured coach in the NBA) and eventually forced a trade that sent him to the New Jersey Nets (now, the Brooklyn Nets).
The report came from Tim McMahon and Marc Stein of ESPN.
"No deal appeared imminent Tuesday night, sources said, but Utah has registered interest in bringing Williams back to his original team, with Dallas open to trading both Williams and center Andrew Bogut in advance of Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline," the report stated.
The report also stated the restrictions when trading for the former All-Star point guard. "Williams can't be traded without his consent, thanks to his one-year, $9 million deal with the Mavericks after he played the previous season in Dallas. The 32-year-old would have to forfeit his free-agent Bird rights if traded to another team."
In a separate ESPN column from Zach Lowe, it was also mentioned that the Jazz are "testing the market," an activity that most teams are undertaking at this time.
"Utah is all-in to keep Gordon Hayward, but they also need to shed some salary before their army of young players ink pricey new deals. They've tested the market for Derrick Favors over the last few weeks, according to several league sources; Favors hasn't been quite the same since coming back from injury, and Utah plays Favors and Rudy Gobert together for only 10 or 12 minutes per game."
The dilemma for the Jazz is that they need Favors for their playoff run. There is a possibility that they could push the trade to the end of the season and see how far they can go.
The Jazz seem sold on Trey Lyles and also, they acquired Boris Diaw in the offseason. It is still not mentioned which teams are looking at Favors and what the Jazz demands for him. Still he's a solid 25 year-old big man with upside.