BIG SPLASH -Why Utah Jazz Should TARGET Austin Reaves | Max Contract STRATEGY Revealed

BIG SPLASH -Why Utah Jazz Should TARGET Austin Reaves | Max Contract STRATEGY Revealed

The Utah Jazz have max cap space in the off season and I’m going to tell you why I would open up the coffers for Austin Reeves of the LA Lakers next on Locked on Jazzum. You are Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, how are you? I am David Lock, radio voice to Utah Jazz, Jazz MBA insider, and this is Locked on Jazz. It’s your daily podcast in Utah Jazz, giving you insight, expertise, geeky numbers, and hopefully making it way better to be a Jazz fan each and every day. Thank you for making Locked On Jazz your first listen of the day and thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network out there. On today’s show, it’s a Thursday, so it’s a points gained Thursday. We’ll look at all those players with points gained. We’ll look at Austin Reeves on points gained and we’re going to address the Jazz off season a little bit because as we move into the trade window which started December 15th, what you plan to do in the off season is you have to know now. So I want to I’m going to try to walk this whole thing through for you of how they all impact each other. what the Jazz do between now that the trade season’s kind of open with dece with contracts being able to be moved and what the Jazz between now and February it’s early in February this year trade deadline and what they do in the offseason and I’m going to present why if I was the Jazz I would sit on my hands now and offer Austin Reeves a max contract when it’s done Yep, that’s All right, Matt. Uh, Matt Austin Reeves can potentially get a 4-year $179 million deal from another team. Now, the problem is the Lakers can give him a 241 year deal over five years. So the question is whether or not over four years 178 whether if the Lakers decide to move on from LeBron, it feels like they probably will. Would a $45 million a year deal to Austin Reeves, would he take that instead of the 48 and an extra year he can get from the LA Lakers? So this the big risk is even while I’m going to present the case here of why I think the Jazz should do this. You kind of got to know whether you can get it done. And maybe Austin Reeves would rather stay in LA. But maybe Austin Reeves doesn’t want to be second fiddle to Luca Donuch for the rest of his career. All right, so let’s walk through this. I’m going to take you on a little bit of a journey here. Hope that’s all right. Uh rather than outlining, the last thing I’m going to do is outline my Austin Reeves case. The first thing I’m going to do is give you kind of where the Jazz choices are. Then we’re going to look at the free agent market as it exists. And then we’re going to get into why I think Austin Reeves would be that good a pickup. And then you have to decide the last piece of this is Lowry Markin at 40 million, Austin Reeves at 45 million. Those are your two best players. Is that enough to get it done? My hair is obviously, for those of you on YouTube, driving me crazy. We’ll just deal with it. Um, all right. The Jazz have an $1844 million trade exception in part of the John Collins trade through Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love’s contracts. What that means is the Jazz can absorb a player salary of up to $18.4 4 million without sending out any of their own money. Now, that gets super interesting if some team out here wants to trade us somebody right now either to fix their books because it’s a restricted free agent. They’re not going to be able to sign something of that sort for 18.4. That’s falls under the 18.4 million. The Jazz can actually aggregate multiple players under that 18.4. The problem is right now the Jazz are projected if the salary cap holds at about 144 million to have somewhere around 40 to $50 million of max cap space. This is why they didn’t sign Walker Kesler. So they would have enough to offer someone in my case Austin Reeves a max contract. But if you go fill in that $18.4 million trade exception prior to the off season and do it before this deadline. You dig into that 40 or 50 million. If you signed Walker Kesler, you had dug into that. The order that you are going to do things here is you are going to try to sign a free agent or multiple free agents and then sign Walker Kesler and then we’re ready to go. We need to get in better draft position for this season, but then we’re ready to go. Then hopefully this will be our last lottery season. That’s the hope. And actually, as much as yesterday was daunting in trying to get to the top, the rest of it’s lining up that that’s pretty good. There’s a lot of teams are going to that are got to recycle this thing. So that’s the plan. So I would present that we don’t want to use our trade exception now because we don’t want to dig into our 40 or $50 million cap space. That if we’re going to move somebody now, we’re moving somebody for another expiring contract, draft something where we move a veteran that they are able to do something with in a team that needs them for a playoff run. We get a second round pick. We don’t bring in any salary and we don’t worry don’t hurt our cap base. Boring, but keep the powder dry. We have that trade exception for one year up to the day of which it was used. So, and there’s some questions here. This gets super complicated of what type of team we’re acting as. So, you’re either like an undercap team or this team or that team. I don’t want to get into all that. It’s a little too comp. It’s a little really complicated. For those of you in the All Access Club, I can get into it. Um, that’s probably what you guys want. Um, that’s that’s the the gist of it, the simple way to look at it. So, we have this trade exception for 18.4 and any move we make between now and the trade deadline limits our ability to spend our 40 or 50 minutes. So, I would say keep the powder dry. When you get to free agency, here are the free agents. LeBron, it’d be fun, frankly. Trey Young player option, probably gonna have to exercise it. Zack Lavine, player option, probably gonna have to exercise it. James Harden, 36-y old, player option, gonna have to exercise it. Unrestricted free agent. CJ McCullum at 34 years old. Not super interested. Chris Middleton, 34 years old. Chris Aspzingis, who’s out with his health problem again, 30 years old. Isaiah Harkinstein’s a club option. I’m assuming Oklahoma City will pick it up. Andrew Wiggins, 31 years old, is a player option. I’m assuming he’ll pick it up. Tobias Harris 33. John Collins 28. Anthony Simons 27. Maybe sixman for limited money. If we don’t if we don’t get big and you’re trying to piece this thing together to get some depth maybe. Fred Van Vleet player option. Terra Rier. I’ll just stay away from that. Jonathan Kaminga club option. Norman Powell unrestricted free agent. I’m a huge Norman Powell fan. He’s 33. Harrison Barnes 33 unrestricted free agent. Kolvuch 35, unrestricted free agent. Nerkich, Ruy Hashimore at 28, unrestricted free agent. Kind of interesting. Colin Ston, Lou Dort’s a club option. Kevin Herder is an unrestricted free agent. Mitchell Robinson’s unrestricted free agent. Here’s the problem with the centers. You go sign a center in your cap space, then you don’t want to resign Walker. You don’t actually get to do something with Walker’s slot. The reason we’re going to res need to resign Walker is because Walker’s a transaction that’s our own money when we do it so we can go sign free agents in our catch space and then sign Walker. But if we sign Mitchell Robinson or we sign there’s a few of Mark Williams is there a bunch of other centers. You sign them well then you’ve used up your cap space. You don’t need to resign Walker. So then all you can do is really sign and trade Walker restricted is he he’ll get an offer at that point. You won’t match it. Austin Reeves, 28 years old. Kobe White, unrestricted free agent, 26. Interesting. Uh, Mo Vagner, 29. Quinton Grimes, Jane Ivy, restricted free agent. Benedict Matherine, restricted free agent. Interesting. Osam Jen, Oklahoma City, I know somebody really likes him. Restricted free agent. Tar Een, restricted free agent. So, you run down that list and you’re trying to spend$40 to $50 million. To me, there’s only one guy on that list I’m willing to spend 40 to $50 million to, and that’s Austin Reeves. Now, the next question on that gets interesting, and that is, if we max somebody right now, is it the right time to max them? The way our capital space works, and is Austin Reeves the right one to max? We touch on that when we continue on Locked on Jazz. The Thursday edition of Locked on Jazz is brought to you by our friends over at Woodward. They are working hard at Woodward in a year where we are not getting the snow we’d expect to make sure it is still fun, awesome, electric, amped up, vibing, doing all those things that Woodward does. Woodward Park City is second to none when it’s fun for per foot ratio. Just 20 minutes from Salt Lake Valley, Woodward’s right over the top of Parley Summit. There’s nothing scary about going to Parley’s. Woodward offers experimental learning in a radically fun and safe environment with facilities for all abilities. The door is always open. The first timers, the regulars like I you drive by it on 80 and you look to your left and you see the park and the pits and the ramps and the tramps and everything and you can tell everyone’s having a blast. tubing. Everyone’s having a blast at Woodward. Mountain Park season passes are now available for just $4.99. Rip hop laps with a posi after school into the evening. Maximize mountain time this winter at one of the best terrain parks in Utah all season long. Go allin with the all access memberships provided from passes to perks, discounts, and more. Starting out, just learn to fly with Woodward’s Tribe and seasonal multi-week programs. It’s a great year to actually learn with the snow uh not falling all the way yet. Just 20 minutes from Salt Lake, Woodward offers experimental learning facilities for all abilities. The allnew winter mountain park pass $4.99. Ride all season at one of Wasatch’s best terrain parks. Get absolutely the best value out of your winter. It’s the best place to maximize mountain time. Easy in, easy out. Just pay literally you park and walk on. It’s kind of awesome. It’s all at Woodward Park City. Winter seasonal programs. build confidence, develop skills, and have a blast on the mountain with all programs ages 4 to 17. Today’s show is also brought to you by our friends over at Robin Hood. Sorry, I was looking for something. I still am looking for something. There it is. The window by which we’re doing this broadcast had disappeared. I didn’t actually know I was still with you. Uh, nobody knows your money goals better than you. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money with tools that work as hard as you do. Locking in on every opening, beating your PR, beating it again. Channel that drive into your money. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and crypto. All on one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood’s legends advanced tools. Or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself, expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com. Your money. Again, that’s robinhood.com/yyoumoney. Your money, your move with Robin Hood, the new gold standard. Robinhood.com/yyoumoney. Thank you for making Lockdown Jazz your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast. Saturday, Jazz Plus SCG Plus the Statcast. I’ll be doing that with Kevin Pelton. Dean Oliver, the godfather of stats is going to join us. Sean Fencing from our staff’s control. It’s gonna be great. Uh also to welcome to the brand new Everydayers out there. So excited to have you aboard. I’m so glad happy about how this is building up. Uh welcome to uh Parker Pratt who is a new locked on everyday club member. To Leon Deem, another Locked On Everyday member. Welcome to Marshall Dewal. Welcome. And to Adam Curtis. So glad to have you guys aboard with the Everydayer Club. It’s available to you for $5 a month. You get adree exclusive access to the daily uh national program locked on sports today on audio as well as intro into our exclusive Discord group which I’m really hoping is going to be a lot of fun for all access one-on-one text messages all my prep notes on the Lakers last night or some of them you got you’ll get more today uh you get what 15% off at the merch store exclusive access to the merch store for you get Leaf two leans extra breakdowns you got the bonus with Kev episode with Kevin Pelton or bonus part the interview with Kevin Pelton, leave two to lean breakdowns for it’s loaded with stuff. It’s all available for you. Uh go to our good over to the best way to do it is go to locked onjazz.supcast.com. That’s locked onjazz.supcast.com. Be a part of the everyday club. All right, I don’t want to get too buried in this, but you have to allocate figure out if your money is going to work. Keonte George becomes a restricted free agent and gets paid in the 2829 season. Ace Bailey gets paid in the 2930 season. Uh so Keonte could get paid. Key’s up for 19 million I think in 20 he’ll get more. So I think he’ll end up going and then he’s 28 29 and then the next way it works the same way that Walker Walker gets paid next year’s restricted figure. So actually Keonte gets paid in 2728 the year after Walker. Ace Bailey gets paid in 2930. So you’re going have to pay Walker then you got to pay Keante. And if you have Lowry and Austin Reeves on max it gets tight. But Lowry expires by the time Ace Bailey gets paid. You would be making a choice that Austin Reeves is on this instead of some of the other young players getting paid. That’s the reality. But you would be eating up a lot of cap space, it gets tight quickly is I guess what I would say. Depending what Walker gets and depending what Keonte gets and you have to decide that you think Walker, Kesler, Keonte, George, Austin Reeves, and Lowry Markin are good enough for to start getting you places. Um, but you also have to you start timing this out and based on how they get paid and when they get paid. Okay, here’s why I’m Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves is a pick and roll marvel in a league that may be moving away from pick and roll and all this stuff, but the fact of the matter is when it gets right down to it, the most commonly run play in the NBA is pick and roll. And late in games in the final five minutes, the most commonly run play is pick and roll. And you got to have a guy and you gotta score. In the last three years of players who’ve run 2,000 pick and rolls, Austin Reeves is the eighth best in the NBA. Here are the guys better. Shay Gildas Alexander, Tyrese Hallebertton, Jamal Murray, Damen Lillard, Jason Tatum, Derek White, Luca Donuch, Austin Reefs, followed by Trey Young, Steph Curry, and James Harden. That’s the group. Let me give you that again. In the last three years, those players have run at least 2,000 pick and rolls. He’s run the 18th most. He’s not on the low end of this. Shay, Tyrese Albertton, Jamal Murray, Dame Lillard, Jason Tatum, Derek White, Luca Donuch, Austin Reeves, followed by Trey Young, Steph Curry, and James Harden. Okay. And he’s getting better. In the 21-22 season, he only ran 190 pick and rolls. My belief is you have to run 3 to 4,000 pick and rolls in the NBA to be able to figure it out. When you start looking at players, most players are under 1.0. He was never under 1.0 ever. He just gets it. He’s a pick and roll savant. We’re watching Keante right now kind of figure it out. And if you look at what it takes for almost all these other point guards, Keonte George In his first year, Keonte George ran 579 pick and rolls was 0.96. Excuse me. In his first year, Keonte ran 1,700 pick and rolls and was8. In his next year, he ran 1400 pick and rolls. So, he’s now 3,000. He was at 0.94. And this year, he’s at 0.96. This is how most guys go. We We can go pull them all. I can pull every single one of these guys. Jamal Murray, all of them. just run the Jamal Murray and go back 10 years or whatever it is now for Jamal Murray and you start to get the yearby-year pick and roll and you see the same trend on every single one of these guys. But Austin Reeves started his first year with only 190 pick and rolls at 1.08. So the next year they gave him a thousand pick and rolls and he was 1.04 which ranked 19th out of 82 players who’d run 750 pick and rolls. 19 The next year he ran instead of running a th00and he ran 1,900. Okay. So now he’s up at three. Now he’s up at 3,000 he went stayed at 1.04 and he ranked 22nd. Starts to get better. Last year he runs another 1,600. He’s now right around the 5,000 mark. And he ranked 11th out of 76 players who ran 750 pick and rolls last year. So, what’s he doing this year? He’s crossed over the 5,000. He’s had the experience. What’s he doing? He’s the third best in the NBA. Okay. He has run he has run 587 pick and rolls. He’s gone from 1.05 to 1.13. And he’s the third best pick and roll player in all of the NBA. The only two guys that are better than him are Shay Gil Alexander and Jamal Murray. This is the natural progression that a player goes on. And sure enough, that’s what he’s doing. And he has exploded. We won’t see him tonight. He’s got a calf strain, but he is the number three pick and roll player in the NBA. I mentioned Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray 911 pick and rolls 0.95. Next year another 1,600.94. Next year another 2,00.93. Okay, do the quick math on that. That’s 2,000. That’s 2500. He crosses over 5,000. 1.1. Stayed at 1.1. Then he went to 1.5, 1.4, 1.9. And now Jamal Murray is at 1.15. This is how it happens. Key’s on this road. But Austin Reeves started threequarters of the way up the mountain at 1.04 and 1.04. It took Jamal Murray five years to get there. Trey Young’s like the only other pick and roll player who kind of started there. Trey Young’s first year was 0.97. Ran 3,000 pick and rolls his first year. His next year he ran he went to 1.0. He crossed over 5,000. Then he went to 1.05 1.05 1.07 1.04. 4. That’s how this works. And Austin Reeves is a pick and roll genius. And the league, when it gets right down to it, you run pick and roll. You just do. Late in games, you run pick and roll. We We’re We’re the most common offball team in the league. You might be saying to yourself, “Wait, Will Hardy runs off ball?” Okay, right. Will Hardy does run offball. You are correct. And if you actually look at how many offball plays we run a night versus how many pick and rolls we run, it’s pretty close. In fact, if you really get down to our play types, according to Synergy, our pick and roll ball handler percent of the time, our pick and roll handlers 11% of our actions and our offball screen is 10% of our actions. Now, they lead to spot-ups. They each lead to different things, but it’s still pretty close. If you look at second spectrum, I bet they’re pretty close to Second Spectrum counts it a little differently. And I would guess you that the offensive team um for us is we run 50 pick and rolls and we probably run 70 off ball. And if we had a better pick and roll player like Austin Reeves, we’d run more pick and roll. Austin Reeves is a pick and roll Savant. In the 23-24 season before his 5,000, he ranked 27th. Then he ranked 20 19th. Then he ran 22nd. Then he ranked 11th. And now he ranks third. I’m maxing that out. I don’t know he’s coming. That money difference is big. The Jazz can offer him 45 a year. The Lakers can offer him 48 a year and an extra year. and one’s LA and one’s Utah. On the other end, this is your team. This is your James Harden to Houston move. You’re never winning the MVP. You’re having a hard not always being an all-star next to Luca Donets. This is your team. Is it worth the Jazz putting all the eggs in that basket going to the offseason, not making a move in up coming up here, not using your trade exception unless you can use it after you’ve gotten Austin Reeves? Is it worth rolling out $45 million for Austin Reeves having Lowry Markin and Austin Reeves both at 45 million Kee then pushing it pretty quickly and you get tight fast pick and roll Savant. That’s my case for it. It’s cute for me to do it here. It’s harder to get it done there. And the real thing the Jazz have to have if they do follow this is they better have a contingency plan because getting him to leave LA would not be easy. Points gained is next. Guess who’s near the very top of points gained? Austin Reeves. Next on Locked on Jess. Today’s show is brought to you by Gusto. Let’s be real. No one starts a business for the joy of calculating tax with withholdings or managing payroll spreadsheets. That’s where Gusto comes in to take the stress out of payroll, benefits, and HR so you can focus on running your business and supporting your team. Lockdown started with Gusto. Gusto is all- in-one remote friendly payroll HR platform that makes managing your team simple, transparent, and fast. Whether you’re hiring, onboarding, or paying employees. Gusto helps you do it all from one place without the hassle or the hidden fees. Unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price, which means no surprise charges at the end of month. Gusto automated tools like other letters, offer letters, onboarding materials, and direct deposits save hours every week. And knowing you can reach certified HR experts anytime gives you a real peace of mind. Trying Gusto at gusto.com/locktonba. Get three months free when you run your first payroll. That’s right, three months of free payroll at gusto.comlockba. One more time, that’s gusto.comona. Today’s show is also brought to you by our friends over at Rocket Money. Glad to have Rocket Money back and firing up with us. Love to talk about Rocket Money because it has been super fun for me uh to use. Everyone feels like your money’s disappearing or how you’re spending it or what can you do better with it or just honestly it’s like peace of mind. I don’t know why I always just am worried about it, but I always am. And so this is where Rocket Money has been incredibly helpful and valuable to figure out where you’re spending, categorizing my spending, being able to look at it from different aspects to say, “Okay, if we do this a little better here or that a little better there, then we can do these things.” And I’ll be honest, one of the things that’s been really cool about having Rocket Money is where we’re doing things really well. It shows you that as well. Everyone always talks about the other way. It just gives you clarity to track every dollar and stay in control of your finances because managing your money shouldn’t feel like a second job. Rocket Money does the heavy lifting for you so you can save money and stress. Rocket Money finds subscriptions you forgot about when you’re paying to help you see where you’re spending in one dashboard. Rocket Money automatically builds budgets based on past spending and keeps track of without overthinking. The bill alerts spending notifications help you catch small things before they turn into big expenses. Having the app find good times to save each month with your constant with your financial goal consistent with your financial goals. Take control of your finances. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions with RocketMoney. Go to rocketmoney.com/lockedonba today. That’s rocketmoney.comlockonba. Rocketmoney.comlockedon. Actually just locked on. Rocketmoney.comlockedon.rocketmoney.comlockedon. Thanks so much for making Locked on Jazz your first listen. Thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. All right, let’s do a little points gained. Um, our leader in the clubhouse in points gained. Got to make sure it’s completely updated. Um, we’ll look at the Jazz Jazz players first. For those who are new to points gained, it is our offensive metric. It looks at how many points an individual player gains compared to average players in the NBA with their scoring opportunities a night. So for example, Lowry Markin gets 23 scoring opportunities a night and he averages 1.1 points better than league average. Let’s take Keant’s growth for a second. Keonte in his first year had 12 scoring opportunities a night. He was minus 1.1 points. In his second year he had 15 scoring 16 scoring opportunities. He was still minus 1.1. And now this year Keonte has got 19 scoring opportunities and he’s positive.8. Pretty great. It’s not that many guards. It’s hard to do this a guard. It’s easier to be positive as a center. You dunk. But it also shows you the value of dunks. Also, the concept in our thing is if you’re really gonna win, you can’t have negative players. Like championship teams don’t have negative players. So that what happens there is you have someone like Sheay or Joic and you got to get the ball out of their hands or Donic because they’re so good and then when they spin it to somebody else that player is an above average possession user then it doesn’t hurt them at all and they end up that’s how you end up winning a championship. The Lakers, by the way, just re we’ll give it to you in a minute. But in regards to negative players, Gabe Vincent and Jake Laravia are really their only negative players um that play a lot. Here are the leaders in the NBA. Nicole Joic is having one of the most dominant offensive seasons of all time through 25 games. He is a plus 5.7. We’ve actually never seen it. I have everything back to the 11 1011 season. I actually have the 9394 season for some weird reason. I don’t know why. Somebody must have done something I wanted to go look at. Um the 1011 season like Dwight Howard was the best at 2.8. In the 145 season, um the best in the NBA was a Kevin Durant at 4.0 0. In the 1617 season, it was Durant at 3.8. In the 18/19 season, it was Giannis at 3.6. In the 2223 season, it was Jokic at 4.3. So, for Joic to be sitting here at 5.7 is flabbergasting. It’s a crazy number. Um, Sheay Gildress Alexander is at 4.9, which is kind of equally crazy. Giannis is next at 3.7. Walker was 3.7. And Austin Reeves is fourth at 3.4. And Steph Curry is fifth at 3.3. Jaylen Duran is part of the reason Detroit’s winning next at 2.8. DeAndre Eaton 2.7. Well played tonight. Aaron Gordon 2.7 Ryan Culkarners 2.5 Anthony Edwards 2.5 Chad Hongren 2.4 Mark Williams 2.2 Cam Spencer in Memphis shooting lights out at 2.2 Don Mitchell 2.2 Norman Powell 2.2 AJ Green shooting lights out 50% from three 2.2 Rudy Gobear at 2.1 Jamal Murray 2.1 Sam Merrill at point 2.0 No point guards better than Keonte George. Shay Gildress Alexander at a stupid 4.9. Austin Reeves at 3.4. Jamal Donovan Mitchell 2.2. Jamal Murray at 2.0. James Harden at 1.7. Tyler Hero and Limited Games I think six. 1.7. Denny Avida 1.6. Luca Donuch 1.5. Khan Canipple, incredible 1.2, but he’s not a point guard, but still incredible for a rookie. I mean, really incredible. Um, the next guard, Tyrese Maxi 1.0, point guard is really what I’m looking at. Scanning past some others. And then De’Aran Fox at 0.9 in his opening 18 games, which is unusual for him. Um, and we’ll see if it lasts and then you get to Kee George at point8. Gives you an idea where Keonte George is in the NBA right now. Uh, I think the bottom offensive players in the NBA this year who are the most detrimental to their team, John Morus 4.1. Brandon Miller’s only played 10 games at minus 3.6. LaMelo Ball minus 2.9. Darius Garland minus 2.8. Caleb Love in Portlandus 2.7. Trey man minus 2.5 in Charlotte. Lonzo Ball minus 2.2 in Cleveland. Keegan Murray minus 2.2 in Sacramento’s only played 11 games. Vince Williams, Memphis minus 2.1. Theres Walker minus 2.2. Joel Embiid’s only played 11 games and minus 2.0. Dennis Shruder in Sacramento minus 2.0. These are all the teams that aren’t playing well. There’s like a tie in here. Brandon Williams minus 2.0. negative player in points gained is so incredibly detrimental to your ability to win. Aaron Nesmith at minus 2.9 hasn’t played a lot. Uh and Jared McCain minus 1.8 which in his second year is not stunning. Ben Shepard minus 1.7 in Indiana. Derek White minus 1.7 suddenly with a larger role in Boston. D’Angelo Russell minus 1.6 in Dallas. Maybe why he’s been benched. VJ Edgeco minus 1.6 which is not stunning. And I think it’s worth checking Cooper Flag and seeing where Cooper Flag is. Cooper Flag is a minus.8. So he’s right where Keonte was his rookie year. Um not surprising. That is Locked on Jazz today. Thank you very much for tuning in. Thank you for being a part of the program. Every day or program all access. I’m super fired up about this access to our discord channel. Locked on sports today exclusive part of our um gets you then for all access. You get 15% off the merch store. You get bonus content, extra all access content from Leaf to Lean on draft breakdowns, communication about the draft, extra episodes as well. You get one-on-one text communication with me um as well and extra insight on things of that nature which include my prep sheets, my prep notes, the breakdowns, the Lakers in-game reactions, empty the noggin, daily newsletter into your inbox. It’s all that’s for $15 a month. You can get it for two months off at $150 a year. You can also get just the everyday program for $5 a month where you get ad free lockdown sports today and the discord channel. You get all those with all access plus the daily newsletter plus the bonus content plus the empty the nog and after games plus the interaction throughout games and throughout the day and news and reaction and all that kind of stuff through the sub through the texting lines all available for you. So go to lockdownjazz.comsupast that’s locked onjazz.comsupcast to sign up. Love to have you board. Really want to build this community and make it a great place a friendly fun place for jazz. I want the Discord channel to be what NBA Twitter used to be for us. We’re super fired up about building this at Lockdown and glad to have you aboard. Uh, please join us if you can. Love to have you. It is Locked On Jazz. Thanks very much for tuning in. We now send you the first ever 247 uh Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. One other note. One other note. One other note. If you’re still listening, bring your headphones to the game. We have a way for you to listen. I I’ll just tweet it out. Never mind. But if you’re coming to the game, bring your noise cancelling headphones. It’s a super cool experience. You can listen. Yeah, that’s right. Okay. It is lockdown jazz. Have a great day. Thank you very much for tuning in. We’ll announce so many things to promote the the the statcast on Saturday with Kevin Pelton also SCG plus Jazz Plus. So many cool things. All right. Uh that is now we send you the first ever national 247 uh YouTube channel in locked on NBA on YouTube. Check out game night every game every night on locked on NBA audio. Game night.

Utah Jazz eye a bold offseason move: Should Austin Reaves become their next franchise cornerstone? With max cap space at their disposal, David Locke explores why handing Reaves a massive contract could elevate Utah’s backcourt and accelerate their rebuild alongside Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George.

Key discussions center on Reaves’ elite status as a pick-and-roll playmaker, his points-gained impact, and the complexities of NBA cap management. The episode breaks down the current free agent landscape, Jazz roster choices, and why keeping their powder dry at the trade deadline preserves flexibility for a major acquisition. Is pairing Markkanen with Reaves enough to shift Utah from lottery regulars to playoff contenders? David Locke analyzes all the angles, offering strategic insight and asking whether the Lakers could lose a rising star to the Jazz’s ambitious plan.

0:00 — Jazz Cap Space & Austin Reaves
13:08 — Why Austin Reaves a Max Player?
27:25 — Points Gained & Player Impact

Locked On Jazz Podcast 💻 https://www.lockedonjazz.net

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOJazz?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Follow David Locke on Twitter:
📲 https://twitter.com/DLocke09

#NBA #UtahJazz #WillHardy #DannyAinge #jordanclarkson #laurimarkkanen

Everydayer Club
If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.

Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
SKIMS
Shop SKIMS Men’s now at https://SKIMS.com.
When you place your order, choose “podcast” in the post-purchase survey and select our show from the dropdown to let them know we sent you.
The SKIMS Holiday Shop is open — so if you’re looking for the perfect gift this season, SKIMS has you covered.

Gusto
Try Gusto today at https://gusto.com/lockedonNBA and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

Rugiet
Visit https://rugiet.com/lockedonnba to get 15% off your first order.
And don’t forget to use our code LOCKEDONNBA so they know we sent you.
Rugiet — stop making excuses and start making moves.

Rocket Money
Take control of your finances and cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money.
Go to https://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON today.

Wayfair
Get last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.
Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.
Wayfair. Every style. Every home.

Robinhood
You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.

Gametime
Today’s episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)