Andy Larsen recapping trade rumors from this week...
Rumors about the Jazz trading Rudy Gobert to Chicago or Atlanta are swirling around. But how would each trade actually impact Utah, in the short and long term? Andy Larsen breaks down the potential return of each deal.
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I think it's pretty gratuitous that a report will come out one day saying that the Hawks are putting Capela, Collins, Huerter and #16 (or some combination of them) on the table, while another report comes out the next day saying, "The Hawks are wary about a Gobert trade." It all just looks like posturing. I think the Hawks are probably in play for Gobert, but the hold up is Deandre Hunter being involved in the deal.
More or less the same thing happened with Chicago. One day, the Bulls are the presumed frontrunner for Gobert, and the next it sounds as though the Bulls are pulling back a bit and don't want to include Williams in a deal. Again, it just looks like posturing and negotiating back and forth.
Concurrently, the Jazz are contacting other teams to try to complete a 3-team deal that meets more of their requirements. Toronto is also in play, but no one's talking about them.
I think it's more likely than not that a deal gets done and Gobert gets moved. The media pundits are being used to spread rumors, which they're happy to do for attention and clicks.