Utah Jazz Trade For Steve Novak

The Utah Jazz have officially announced they’ve traded Diante Garrett to the Toronto Raptors for Steve Novak and a second round pick:

The deal was originally struck on the Fourth of July, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Jazz already have a pretty packed frontcourt with Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, but now they also have a four who can stretch the floor and knock down threes, pretty much the only thing Novak does extremely well.

The Raptors didn’t use Novak very often last season, which would explain his 3.3 points per game. However, he still shot the ball exceptionally well from three-point range (42.6 percent) while taking 2.3 threes in his 10 minutes per game. In his eight-year career, Novak has shot a better percentage from downtown than he has from the field three times.

With the New York Knicks, Novak was a huge part of their success coming off the bench. In his best season, Novak averaged 8.8 points per game while shooting 47 percent from downtown on 5.2 attempts per game. Though he’s not a good defensive player and needs to be hidden on that end, Novak’s ability to stretch the defense will make him a useful asset coming off the bench for the Jazz. His three-point shooting is elite as a career 43 percent shooter from beyond the arc and Novak will be hoping he can stick with the Jazz, his seventh team in nine seasons.

As for the Raptors, this move is all about freeing up cap space. Toronto will waive Diante Garrett, who averaged 3.5 points in 14.8 minutes per game with the Jazz last season. That move, combined with trading Novak, will clear up $7.2 million in salary over the next two seasons.