NBA Trade Grades: Utah Jazz pick up Jordan Clarkson
By Phil Watson
The Utah Jazz made a move to win right now, sending former lottery pick Dante Exum and 2 second-round picks to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jordan Clarkson. Here are the NBA Trade Grades for both sides of the deal.
Analysts have been speculating the trade market would open up after most of the players signed to new contracts last summer were eligible to be dealt after Dec. 15 and Monday night we got our first trade since the Russell Westbrook–Chris Paul deal on July 16. Let’s dive into the NBA Trade Grades for Monday’s deal between the Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers.
As first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Jazz will send former lottery pick Dante Exum and two future second-round picks to Cleveland for veteran guard Jordan Clarkson.
It seems fairly clear the Utah is looking to add scoring to its second unit, which currently ranks 29th in the NBA, producing just 27.1 points per game. Clarkson has been one of the top bench scorers in the NBA, averaging 14.6 points in just 23.0 minutes per game for the Cavaliers this season.
This is the third trade Utah and Cleveland have participated in since February 2018. The first was a three-team deal at the trade deadline in 2018 with the Cavaliers trading Jae Crowder and acquiring Rodney Hood from the Jazz. In November 2018, Cleveland sent Kyle Korver to Utah for Alec Burks and two second-round picks.
Moving Clarkson shows that the plan for the Cavaliers is to start moving more of their veterans and adding young players and draft picks. How did each side come out of the trade? Here are the NBA Trade Grades for both teams.