Rumors

Frank Layden, known around Utah for his impact in the basketball community, has died at the age of 93. Layden passed away Wednesday, the Deseret News confirmed. ABC 4’s Wesley Ruff was the first to report the news.

deseret.com

Layden went 277-294 during the regular season as the Jazz’s head coach. Under Layden, Utah made the playoffs five times, reaching the conference semifinals three times. One of his greatest accomplishments as an NBA executive with the Jazz was drafting Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone in back-to-back years, turning the franchise into a perennial playoff contender and eventually leading the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

deseret.com

Some confirmed suitors for Bradley Beal include the LA Clippers — fresh off agreeing to trade Norman Powell to Miami in a three-team deal that will bring back Utah's John Collins — as well as the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Minnesota. Miami was widely anticipated to be in that mix, but the Heat's agreed-to acquisition of Norman Powell would appear to rule them out of the Beal chase

marcstein.substack.com

Shams Charania: Miami is acquiring a major scoring punch in Powell while the Clippers find a dynamic lob threat. Both Powell and Collins are coming off strong seasons. Utah has turned Collins' expiring deal into an asset in the form of a second-rounder in return.

x.com

The first day of NBA Summer League action culminated in a matchup between two top-5 picks in Utah: V.J. Edgecombe and the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Ace Bailey and the Utah Jazz. Only one of them posted a star-level performance. That was Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. A high-motor, high-athleticism wing, Edgecombe looked like the best player on a floor full of guys who saw NBA action last season, posting 28 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Yahoo! Sports

He was traded to Utah the next summer as part of a deal for Rudy Gobert, but the Wolves also continued to have reservations about trusting him to keep his life off the court on the straight and narrow, a team source said.

New York Times

Memphis Grizzlies PR: The @memgrizz today announced the team's roster for the 2025 Salt Lake City Summer League in Utah and the NBA 2K26 Summer League 2025 in Las Vegas. pic.x.com/ssjqoh0gIY

Twitter

Donovan Mitchell: "I tell people all the time that was the first year in about five years where there was not a question of where is Donovan Mitchell going next. You know what I mean? Like and I was in Utah it was like where's he going next? When I was in Cleveland he wasn't. I was like I'm not staying. Oh, I'm not staying. He's not staying. And then it became like after every win, after every loss, we go on a losing streak. It's like oh this is why he's leaving. You know what I mean? And I think it became it just became a lot. And I didn't realize it in the moment. when you're in it, you don't really notice how much that really like, you know, stresses you in life. And not necessarily always in a bad way, but it's just like it's always on your mind. It's on your teammates's mind. That teammates got to answer these questions. My coach has got to answer these questions. You know, GM, everybody's got to answer the question of like, where's he going? What's he doing? Um, even though I knew I was staying, even though they knew I was staying, it's just still a topic of conversation. You know what I mean? I think for me, just being able to call a place home and be there and want to be there and be like, 'All right, cool. This is this is where I'm at.'"

YouTube

Jake Fischer: Jordan Clarkson gave back roughly $3.6 million in his Utah buyout, sources say, about the same veteran's minimum amount the veteran guard is expected to earn when he signs with New York upon clearing waivers.

x.com

What does your summer look like—summer league or staying in Utah? Ace Bailey: “Definitely going to be here—weight room, working with coaches and teammates. Doing both, but mostly working out here.” Austin Ainge: “We haven’t finalized the full plan, but it’ll be some of each.”

YouTube

Joining Bailey in Utah are No. 18 pick Walter Clayton Jr. and No. 53 pick John Tonje, two other high-level scorers. "This is a dream scenario for us," Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said. "These are guys we targeted before the draft with high potential and high character, and we couldn't be more excited."

ESPN

Jake Fischer: The 2030 second-round pick Utah is sending to Charlotte is the most favorable of Jazz/Clippers, per source, as Collin Sexton fills the Hornets' pursuit of backup guards.

Twitter

Shams Charania: Hornets acquire a competitive, tough-minded guard in Sexton for their backcourt -- while Utah gets frontcourt depth in Nurkic, whom Jazz have liked.

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Derrick Favors: Being from the inner city of ATL (southside zone3 iykyk) I understand not wanting to go to Utah but it’s better than what you think. It’s not for everyone but if you give it a chance you’ll find gold

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