The Utah Jazz were mostly quiet on the opening day of free agency, taking care of their top priority in the opening minutes by locking down Mike Conley to a 3-year, $68 million deal that, based on the deals Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry took, seemed to be a healthy discount for the home team.
From there, the Jazz waited patiently for the market to settle, and on Tuesday morning they made their next move in bringing in veteran forward Rudy Gay on a 2-year, $12 million deal with a second year player option that will bolster their frontcourt rotation, per Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski.
Rudy Gay is signing a two-year, $12.1M deal with the Jazz, with a player option, his agents Raymond Brothers and Sam Permut said. https://t.co/yWjQ9HzQNy
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 3, 2021
Two year deal that includes a player option. https://t.co/CbZbkAjXnq
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021
Adding Gay is a nice pickup for the Jazz, who add a quality veteran to the mix who can space the floor from the four spot (Gay shot 38.1 percent from three a year ago) and is a solid defender. Whether this is just a depth addition or a precursor to a trade — there were rumblings prior to the Draft that the Jazz were discussing deals involving Joe Ingles to shuffle money around — will be something we’ll just have to wait on. But for the West’s reigning 1-seed, it’s a nice addition at a position of need that should help them once again be one of the best in the West, they just hope this time that extends to the postseason as well.
