After season-ending injuries were the story of the weekend in the NBA, see how those recent injuries could impact the Utah Jazz ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
A lot changed over the weekend in the NBA.
Not only with the outcome of the games continuing to determine how the playoff seeds shape out in both the Eastern and Western Conferences as we near the All-Star Break, but with injuries to two key pieces on teams trying to keep their position in the playoff picture.
The terrible events of the weekend began on Friday night, when New Orleans Pelicans big man DeMarcus Cousins had to be carried off the court with an Achilles injury late in the Pelicans’ win over the Houston Rockets.
Cousins, who has been playing some great basketball this year, was later diagnosed with a left Achilles tendon rupture, ending his season.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. On Saturday, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Andre Roberson was taken out of the game against the Detroit Pistons on a stretcher after falling hard in the third quarter.
A key piece in the OKC starting five, Roberson was later diagnosed with a ruptured left patellar tendon and will miss the rest of the season.
The loss of those two players understandably presents a road bump for both New Orleans and OKC as they gear up for potential playoff runs (perhaps a bigger road bump for New Orleans than OKC, but still).
The J-Notes
The absences of Cousins and Roberson could persuade the Pelicans and Thunder to make some calls to acquire a player near the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline.
And the Utah Jazz could — and should — be on the other end of those calls.
The closer we get to the trade deadline, the more we keep hearing of the Jazz looking to move pieces before the deadline passes. With both New Orleans and OKC looking to fill holes left by Cousins and Roberson, Utah could provide both of those teams valuable pieces heading into the home stretch of the regular season.
The first Jazz player that comes to mind is Derrick Favors, specifically him being sent to New Orleans to pair up with Anthony Davis.
Favors could be a nice complementary piece next to Davis, who tends to stretch the floor with his guard-like abilities. The Pelicans could also likely be able to get Favors for rather cheap, but would require sending a player back to Utah to make the money work.
The second Jazz player that comes to mind when talking about being on the move is Rodney Hood, who like Favors, seems more likely than not to be moved before the trade deadline.
Hood could fit in nicely for the Thunder now without Roberson in the starting lineup. Hood is the type of player that could come right in and start in that shooting guard role Roberson held, while also having the valuable ability to be a threat off the bench as well.
Hood has a cheap contract, making about $2.5 million in his final year. That could make a trade between the Jazz and Thunder much easier. Oklahoma City also has a few trade exceptions, from the Paul George trade, that could make the money work to send Hood to OKC.
As far as players that could potentially come back to Utah, players like Jerami Grant or Kyle Singler jump out and could be nice replacements in Salt Lake City to fill in for the injured Thabo Sefolosha.
It’s never fun to see injuries happen in the NBA, but both New Orleans and OKC have the ability to try and replace both Cousins and Roberson before the trade deadline passes.
Next: 5 ripples of the DeMarcus Cousins injury
For the Jazz, who will likely be strong sellers at the deadline, they need to take advantage of that.