Free agent center Jusuf Nurkic will be returning to the Jazz, according to Shams Charania of ESPN ( Twitter link), who reports that the two sides have agreed to terms on a two-year, $22MM contract.
Utah traded Collin Sexton and a second-round pick to Charlotte during the 2025 offseason in order to acquire Nurkic to provide frontcourt depth. That move proved fortuitous when starting center Walker Kessler suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in just the fifth game of the season, forcing Nurkic to take on a much larger role than anticipated.
Nurkic responded in a major way, averaging a double-double (10.9 points, 10.4 rebounds) to go along with 4.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 26.4 minutes per game. He started 36 of the 41 games he played for Utah before nasal surgery prematurely ended his season.
Nurkic was initially viewed as a candidate to be flipped to a new team before the trade deadline, but his fit in Will Hardy‘s system had the Jazz talking about making him part of the team’s plans moving forward, and the Bosnian big man reciprocated the team’s interest.
While negotiations with Kessler in restricted free agency haven’t progressed as smoothly as the Jazz hoped, it still seems likely that he’ll re-sign with the team, in which case Nurkic would provide reliable depth behind Kessler and Jaren Jackson Jr. up front.
Examining Utah’s cap situation, Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link) notes that the team has about $38.5MM in room under the projected luxury tax line to sign Kessler and add one or two more players to its current group.