An unfortunate ACL injury to Dante Exum, the Utah Jazz suddenly has a dilemma at the point. Mario Chalmers is an option in the trade market.
The Utah Jazz passed on taking another point guard after they took two point guards in the last two years: they acquired Trey Burke through a draft day trade in 2013 and drafted Exum last year. With two young lottery skippers, they thought they could fill out their other needs this year.
The Exum injury was a nightmare for front office execs-getting injured in an exhibition game playing for the national team. Nevertheless, they have to prepare for the season and contend for a playoff spot just as they planned.
On the other side of the NBA, the team from South Beach is looking to clear their books. After re-signing their priority players including an emerging Goran Dragic, the Miami Heat find themselves with a tax bill for a team that did not even make the playoffs in the East.
To this end, the Heat needs to evaluate every player and sure enough they found someone "expendable."
"Based on everything I've heard from NBA people, the Heat would like nothing more than to offload Chalmers' luxury-tax hit, let alone get something in return," declared the Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman.
"Chalmers' expiring contract figures to have value to any team needing a one-year stopgap option at point guard. In the end, if the Heat truly want to move Chalmers, they'll find a way. But there also is no rush, with the luxury-tax bill not computed until season's end."
It's time for a salary dump, and they might find the perfect taker.
"Mario Chalmers is another player who has come up as a salary dump candidate that could fill the need in Utah, though I question the basketball fit," says Salt City Hoops. "I suppose the Jazz could do worse than a guy who's played a lot of winning basketball in a winning program. And you could bring him off the bench as a designated corner shooter (42% career) while Rodney Hood or Joe Ingles handled more of the facilitation duties."
Chalmers played off the ball a lot for Miami when LeBron or even Dwyane Wade and this is why it seemed hard for other teams to take him. However, at this point, the Jazz has limited options.