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Peterson silenced any doubts about his zeal for joining the Jazz immediately after being selected. He stressed in several interviews that night that he felt "super comfortable" during his meeting with Hardy and the Utah contingent at the scouting combine in Chicago. Peterson expressed appreciation that Jazz CEO Danny Ainge, president of basketball operations Austin Ainge, general manager Justin Zanik and vice president of player development Avery Bradley traveled to Peterson's hometown to meet with him days before the draft. Over the course of 17 days and two Salt Lake City Summer League games, the Jazz are confident their rebuild is coming to an end. With Peterson's potential and Keyonte George coming off a breakout campaign, Utah's backcourt has the chance to be special, especially alongside 2025 No. 5 pick Ace Bailey and midseason addition Jaren Jackson Jr. "What excites me the most is being able to be a part of the young core," Peterson said. "It's just a great basketball organization. I think everyone would agree with me, and we've kind of talked about it: It's time to win. So, to be a part of that is like a dream come true for me."
Memphis also gets to keep its massive $28.9 million traded player exception. The TPE was gained from the Feb. 3 trade that resulted in Jaren Jackson Jr. going to the Utah Jazz. Memphis can take on Stewart's $15 million salary in the bigger deal and part ways with Aldama's $17 million without touching the TPE.
The Memphis Grizzlies will be able to take Isaiah Stewart into the trade exception created by Santi Aldama being dealt to Dallas, which will allow a the Grizzlies to maintain their bigger $28 million trade exception from February's Jaren Jackson, Jr. trade. The Grizzlies could not take Stewart into their nontaxpayer midlevel exception even though his base salary of $15 million fits. That's because he also has $1 million in unlikely incentives that count toward that exception.
Shams Charania: Dallas acquires a versatile forward as Memphis continues to stack draft capital. The deal also allows the Grizzlies to preserve its full $29 million trade exception from the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, which otherwise would have been reduced by their earlier offseason dealings.
HH: How would you describe Ja Morant, and what could be next for his future? Coward: 'He’s one of my favorite teammates I’ve ever been around. He’s just a standup guy. He’s one of them dudes. When we had the ice storm, he offered to pay for my groceries. I declined it, but the offer was just who he is. He always wants to take care of people. He took care of me as a rookie in certain situations. He’s a good person to be around. He’ll joke around with you. Usually, when you go to teams with superstar-level players, they don’t talk to the rookies. With him and Jaren Jackson Jr., they were open with it from the beginning. That was the first person who texted me when I got drafted. That’s my guy right there. Whatever happens, happens. That doesn’t change how I feel about him.'
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Art Cummings: The Utah Jazz are looking at Cam Boozer hard per Tim MacMahon via the Hoop Collective Podcast. He mentioned that Cam Boozer and Jaren Jackson Jr are a potential great complimentary duo in the future. Cam’s elite rebounding helps JJJ and JJJ’s elite rim protection helps Cam.
George is already in line for a major payday in rookie scale contract extension talks this offseason after a breakout third season and sources say that the Jazz prize him as an absolute cornerstone now. Bailey, meanwhile, is situated as a scoring guard in Utah's system for coach Will Hardy, who will of course also trot out a supersized frontcourt starring recent All-Stars Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen.
Sam Amick: "Now the Wembanyama effect to your question is I actually think it has a domino effect on the Giannis sweepstakes this summer, where there's only so many guys in the league that can give you a puncher's chance at slowing Wembanyama down. You look at the Thunder, they got a guy in Chet Holmgren who at first glance looks like tailor-made to give him some pushback, and he's obviously had a really hard time in this series. So the impact is even beyond getting a guy like that, it's loading up on bigs. I had one of the executives talk about the Jazz, who I know are certainly not contending at this point, but how they're looking to re-sign Walker Kessler, they did the trade for Jaren Jackson Jr., already got Lauri Markkanen, and that sort of approach. The Thunder adding Hartenstein last year, it's that kind of thing where you're going to need big bodies, but it's not like the Shaq old days when you just needed as much heft as possible. You got to have guys who can play three-four positions and be versatile and keep up with this 7-4 alien."
They likely will be connected to big names around the league, such as Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen − though Utah just traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. to pair with Markkanen − and Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard, who will be entering the final year of his deal and will make $50.3 million in 2026-27 at age 35. The Pistons have all of their first-round picks, including the 21st overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft and a trove of second-round picks down the road to include in deals.
Jaren Jackson Jr on Brandon Clarke: I couldn’t imagine a world where this was even a possibility. i love you forever brother, this is absolutely devastating. i just wish i could talk to you. you were so much to so many and even more to me . i will never have the words to describe what this feels like . i still can’t believe this . to your family and friends and everyone you were always a light and you were always so genuine and real and our friendship went far beyond anything on the court . i truly lost my twin . i’m still going to be talking to you always . you will be forever loved and forever missed
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In another post, Morant shared a photo of himself with Clarke and Jaren Jackson Jr. Morant later shared a post from Grizzlies social media manager Devin Walker that featured him with Clarke during the 2019 NBA Summer League when he won MVP. “I’m walking with a GOAT right here,” Morant said in the video as the pair walked off the court.
As an example, leading up to trade deadline in February, the Raptors were working hard to try and make a deal that would land them Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Memphis Grizzlies before he was ultimately traded to the Utah Jazz in a package that included three first round picks, according to multiple league sources. The sticking point was finding someone to take on Jakob Poeltl’s four years and $104 million the 30-year-old has owed to him.
The whole thing really blew up on Monday night, when Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. were actually sitting courtside at an Orlando Magic playoff game to support their old Grizzlies teammate, Desmond Bane. The broadcast kept panning over to Morant and Jackson Jr. each time they celebrated a Bane triple, and eventually, fans flocked to social media to post photos of Morant and Jackson Jr, jokingly writing captions along the lines of: “What are they doing?? They have a game tomorrow!” “I just seen my timeline talking about, ‘Don’t they have a game?’” Zinzy said. “And I was like, ‘This is crazy. Like, why do so many people get the reference?’
MrBuckBuck: Desmond Bane on Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. being at his game tonight: “It’s special. Those are guys that I spent 5 years with… It’s a friendship that’ll last forever… I’m thankful that they pulled up to support.” Via: reddit.com/r/nba/comments
