Dennis Lindsey’s shrewd contracts make the Utah Jazz’s future flexible

Although he was dealt a tough hand this summer, Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey has made some great moves to insure his team’s future.

Following the departure of Gordon Hayward, the Utah Jazz found themselves in a strange place as an organization. All the moves they had made over the past year — signing Joe Johnson last summer, trading up for Donovan Mitchell in the draft, or dealing for Ricky Rubio — were made with the goal of maximizing the franchise’s ability to compete sooner rather than later.

Looking back at last season, it’s hard to say that this goal wasn’t accomplished. Even while dealing with extensive injury woes, the Jazz finished with 51 wins and a fifth-place playoff spot in the powerful Western Conference.

Things were setting up to look even more promising next season, with virtually every important piece returning and improvement expected from other players such as Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood and Dante Exum.

Of course, a wrench was thrown into this plan when Hayward announced his decision to join the Boston Celtics, leaving the Jazz without a huge portion of their scoring and overall production from the 2016-17 season.

Hayward’s skills couldn’t be replaced completely, but there were also a lot of other roster holes Utah needed to fill, as I mentioned recapping their frantic, piecemeal signing period.

The Jazz did well to replenish their positions of need with less-heralded free agents on short notice, but the real stroke of genius in their signing period came in how each individual contract was set up.

Looking at each of their incoming free agents, specifically Thabo Sefolosha, Epke Udoh and Jonas Jerebko, it’s easy to see that there was no panic in signing replacements quickly. At just over $13 million combined for next season, the three players — who will be serving fairly significant roles — will be making just slightly more than Alec Burks, who has missed large parts of the last three seasons.

Furthermore, the second year on each contract is non-guaranteed (as reported by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders), making the 2018-19 season essentially a team option on the Jazz’s part. Considering that each player was signed for around market value, this is really exceptional deal-making on the part of the Jazz’s front office.

This structuring is most valuable on the part of Udoh’s contract. Although he looks to have reinvented himself with a successful stint in Europe, there’s always inherent risk in signing a player from overseas, particularly one that flamed out of the NBA not too long ago.

Jerebko and Sefolosha are both known quantities from their years in the league, but having the ability to cut them loose if unexpected circumstances arise or better options present themselves could also be beneficial.

Joe Ingles, who returned to the Jazz on a four-year, $52 million deal, also had some unorthodox financial details on his contract. Most longer-term deals are back-loaded, where salary increases by a small percentage each year, but Ingles’ is actually front-loaded.

Per @EricPincus: Joe Ingles new deal starts at just over $14M and declines each year and ends at just under $11M in 2020-21. Great for Utah.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 30, 2017

The effect is relatively small, with about $3 million in savings for the Jazz’s cap sheet during the 2020-21 season, but that amount just might be the difference between falling short and having the cap space available to chase a big-name free agent.

Furthermore, one concern surrounding Ingles’ free agency was his age. At 29 years old, he has likely hit his athletic prime and will be 33 by the time his contract expires. Setting up his contract as such allows the Jazz to get a better balance between what they are paying for and the production they will see on the floor.

For all the confusion that surrounded the signing of Royce O’Neale, it has since come out that the second and third years of his contract are also non-guaranteed, meaning the Jazz can bail on his deal should they not see the returns they want next season.

So, what to make of all these contractual provisions?

There’s always the chance that all of the relevant guarantees will be exercised for 2018-19, and to be clear, this would be a good outcome, as it means all the signees have played up to or exceeded their contracts.

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However, if the Jazz release one or more of their new players, they will have created space that they can use in free agency or to take on salary in a trade.

In total, they can clear roughly $35-38 million in room for next summer, what with the expiring contracts of Derrick Favors and Joe Johnson in addition to the players mentioned above.

This is enough room to acquire a max player, and with tons of stars coming onto the market next summer, there’s a chance that Dennis Lindsey has his eye on a big target.

There’s very little for Utah’s front office to lose in either case, besides individual performances for next season, which sets up as a transition year anyway.

Building a contender is an extremely hard process, especially a smaller-market team like the Jazz. They will need to create as much opportunity for themselves to get into a contending position as they can, and the contracts set out this summer go a long way toward accomplishing that.

Next: The biggest winners and losers of 2017 NBA free agency

Even while being faced with a challenge that more or less collapsed the long-term path of their franchise, it’s refreshing to see that the Jazz’s front office has put the team in a solid position moving forward.