2019 NBA free agency: 5 potential landing spots for Rudy Gay

2. Utah Jazz

After swinging a trade for point guard Mike Conley, the Utah Jazz appear on a mission to assert themselves in what has become a wide-open Western Conference. With capable ball-handlers and elite defenders, Utah will be a threat next season, but one area that has continued to hurt this team over the years is the power forward slot.

Derrick Favors averaged a modest 11.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season. He’s got good touch around the rim and is a bullying interior presence. Unfortunately, those skills aren’t so desired from his position nowadays, instead replaced with an outside shot and the ability to defend multiple positions, neither of which the former No. 3 pick brings to the table.

Gay would bring a more modern approach to the game, having improved his 3-point stroke tremendously last season. His Achilles tear makes him limited defensively, but he’s still mobile enough to passably get by at that end.

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Whatever defensive liabilities he may have will certainly be masked on a team ranked second in defensive rating during the regular season. Between Joe Ingles, Conley and the now two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Utah will be able to hide Gay at the defensive end, conserving his energy in the process.

The Jazz will have less than $5 million to work with in free agency after acquiring Conley. That could all change if they find a suitor for the expiring non-guaranteed contract of Favors at $16.9 million, or if Gay is willing to take a massive pay cut.

There are options for Gay that would provide a more clearer path to a title. If he’s looking for more of a challenge, though, he’d be a great complementary piece in Utah playing off a talented backcourt or providing a punch off the pine for the 15th highest-scoring bench in the league last season.