Getty Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Utah Jazz.
By trading Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell away for primarily first-round picks and young players, the Utah Jazz have signaled that they are tearing their down their roster and starting a new chapter. After the Mitchell trade was completed, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, and Mike Conley Jr. were “converted assets” around the league on September 1.
On September 7, Brian Robb of MassLive wrote an article detailing what players the Boston Celtics could potentially acquire from the Jazz as they continue to tear down their squad. When bringing up Bojan Bogdanovic, Robb described him as the “perfect” player to replace Danilo Gallinari but also added that doing so would require moving quite a few pieces around.
This would be the perfect type of sharpshooter to replace Gallinari’s production. However, his lofty salary will make Boston pursuing any kind of deal here a major challenge. Boston would need to send out just over $15 million in salary to make any trade work, and that would involve moving a piece of the team’s core rotation. Bogdanovic is a nice piece, but he’s not worth tearing up the rotation for.
Over his nine-year career in the NBA, Bogdanovic has established himself as one of the league’s premier three-point shooters, as he’s a career 39.2 percent shooter from three. The Jazz have utilized his abilities as a floor spacer as much as they could for the last three seasons, as he’s averaged 7.3, 6.4, and 6.8 three-point shot attempts a game from 2019 to 2022.
Celtics Rival Interested in Bogdanovic
On September 2, the day after the Jazz had traded Mitchell, Jeff Zilgitt of USA TODAY Sports reported that the Los Angeles Lakers were interested in the available Jazz players still on the roster like Bogdanovic, Conley, and Clarkson, but are also preserving cap space for the 2023 offseason.
While Clarkson’s and Conley’s contracts expire in 2024, Bogdanovic’s contract is slated to expire at the end of the 2022-23 season, so the Lakers would most likely want him the most in that scenario.
Bogdanovic is slated to be paid $19,343,000 for the 2022-23 season before it comes off the books, according to Spotrac.
Jazz Think ‘Very Highly’ of Celtics TPE Target
While acquiring Bogdanovic would require a fair amount of salary, one possible Jazz player who would not require any matching salary would be Jarred Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt was acquired by the Jazz in the Rudy Gobert trade, whose $4.3 million contract would fit into either one of the $6.9 million Juancho Hernangomez Trade Exception or the $5.9 million Dennis Schroder Trade Exception. At 6’9”, Vanderbilt is considered a big who could potentially replace Daniel Theis as Boston’s third center. However, Robb revealed that the Jazz have not made him available.
“League sources tell MassLive that the Jazz think highly of the cheap young power forward acquired as part of the Rudy Gobert deal. He would certainly help fill the Gallinari absence in the frontcourt depth, but his youth makes him a player that’s not as readily available as other veterans.”
All in all, Robb does not sound confident that the Celtics will get involved as the Jazz continue their rebuild.
“While there are plenty of names here that should be on the move in the coming weeks, don’t expect the Celtics to be involved in landing them. The salaries involved along with the situational fits will likely have the Celtics looking elsewhere as the season continues to round up the remainder of the roster.”