4-way deal trades Jordan Clarkson for former No. 2 pick

Before we delve into this season, the record shows that no one on the Utah Jazz has a problem with Jordan Clarkson. He has done everything they asked of him and expressed his love for Utah. He even admitted that he wants to take on more of a mentor role this season.

The only reason he shows up in trade proposals is because he would be better off playing for a playoff team. It’s all a matter of who.

It’s only fair that the Jazz do well with him and put him on a team that needs him more than they do. Behind the Bucks Pass, Dalton Sell proposed a four-way trade that would put Clarkson on a team that could certainly use him.

He proposed the following trade between the Jazz, Bucks, Grizzlies and Lakers, in which the following would be traded.

Money gets: Marcus Slim

Grizzlies get: Clarkson and Jarred Vanderbilt

Lakers get: Brook Lopez

Jazz get: D’Angelo Russell and 2025 second-round pick via Lakers

“Utah is a team that should look to stack as many draft picks as possible. Russell and a pick might not be the most exciting return for Clarkson, but it would give them another draft selection that could be added to their war chest contract will also come off the books this summer, which would give them more leeway financially.

At this point, the Jazz probably shouldn’t expect anything particularly good in return for Clarkson. Teams are now being more careful about who they trade because of the salary cap implications. At best, their ideal trade return is to get an expiring contract like Russell’s so they have more cap flexibility.

Better yet, in a trade like this, there wouldn’t be a need to bring in Walker Kessler to get it done. For that reason alone, this is a home run from the Jazz side.

Grade: A

However, one thing would remain up for debate.

Since the Jazz don’t have much use for Clarkson, it stands to reason that the same goes for Russell, if not more. Since his contract is up, the Jazz don’t have much to lose by cutting him, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they should do so right away.

Since his contract is expiring anyway, the Jazz can wait until the trade deadline to see if they can increase his value enough to extract more assets from him. Russell doesn’t have much value as a player, but he can score, and teams will become even more desperate if their season doesn’t go as well as they’d hoped. Even with Russell’s low value, his expiring contract offers maximum flexibility on top of what he does.

If the Jazz can get anything out of Russell, this proposed trade from Sell by extension goes from an A to an A+ on their part. Even though it may not be much.