Utah Jazz: Why they should still make Mike Conley trade amid snags

Here’s why the Utah Jazz should still have their eyes on going out and trading for Mike Conley despite recent rumors of some snags in trade discussions.

The day is officially here, and the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline is upon us. The Utah Jazz are once again in the middle of trade rumors for the second straight season.

As the 3 p.m. ET deadline inches closer and closer throughout the day, one trade rumor that many around the league will be monitoring is between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Jazz. The rumors surround the possibility of the Grizz trading away their star point guard, Mike Conley.

Spanning back a few weeks ago, rumors began to float regarding Memphis and the possibility that it would be open to finding a trade partner for not only Conley, but also its star big man, Marc Gasol.

Earlier in the week, we wrote about what a possible Conley trade could look like between Utah and Memphis.

Ever since those rumors broke, Utah has been one team that has been linked as interested in Conley. Most notably, one Jazz player that has seen his name included in those rumors has been point guard Ricky Rubio, who is in the final year of his contract with Utah.

Over the last few days, however, there have appeared to be some snags and bumps within the trade discussions between the Jazz and Grizzlies, as reported by ESPN‘s Brian Windhorst.

Windhorst mentioned on the network’s TV show The Jump that Conley, if he were to be traded, would prefer to go to an Eastern Conference team and has no interest in going to Salt Lake City to join the Jazz.

Even with the latest rumor that Conley doesn’t want to be in Utah, that doesn’t mean the Jazz should stray away from going out and trading for the point guard.

First of all, the trade make sense for Utah both this season and in the next few years, assuming Conley stays healthy and returns back to the form that we’ve seen throughout his NBA career thus far. He has the ability to form a legitimate Big 3 alongside Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, which would be very entertaining to watch moving forward.

Second, regardless of how much Conley is set to make over the course of his remaining contract, he’s under contract through the next two-plus years. Even if he’s reportedly unhappy with the thought of going to Utah, winning cures all and that’s what Utah has been able to do – especially in the second half of the regular season.

In other words, players’ minds can be changed fairly easily sometimes once they actually get into a good situation, even if they originally didn’t want to be a part of it.

This latest rumor of Conley not wanting to be in Utah could just be a meaningless rumor that was sparked by one side or the other to try and help push the Jazz over the edge and up their trade offer, or it could actually be true and Conley doesn’t want to go to Salt Lake City to play.

Either way, as the clock continues to tick on time left remaining before the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline arrives, Utah should still go out and trade for Conley ahead of that 3 p.m. ET mark.