Utah Jazz: Who’s staying and who’s going in 2017 free agency?
By Jason Oliver
With the Utah Jazz season now over and reflections beginning, the first thing to look at is who is staying and who might be leaving in 2017 NBA free agency.
The Utah Jazz had the lowest salary cap number in the NBA for the 2016-17 season at $80.1 million, but that didn’t stop them from winning 51 regular season games and a first round playoff series.
The Jazz lived up to expectations despite being decimated by injuries and have the opportunity to build a bigger and better roster to create new expectations beyond the first round next season.
The coming months are important for the Jazz as they look to build the sort of roster that compares to the Western Conference’s better teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, while also threatening the stronghold the Golden State Warriors have at the top of the league.
So far Utah has nine players under contract for the 2017-18 season; Derrick Favors, Joe Johnson, Alec Burks, Dante Exum, Trey Lyles, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, Raul Neto and Joel Bolomboy.
With the future of some key players up in the air, it’s important for the Jazz to build on the success of this season by putting together a team that can continue to build next season. The question is, which ones will stay and which ones will go in free agency this summer?