Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma Linked to Jazz as ‘Ambitious’ Free Agent Target

With the financial flexibility the Utah Jazz find themselves with this offseason (projected over $40 million in practical cap space), the team is one of few teams that could find themselves increasingly active during July’s free agency period. One of the latest names linked to Utah was none other than Kyle Kuzma, who spent his college days down the road attending the University of Utah.

The former NBA champion will enter this free agency looking for an increased payday from his current $13 millon per season. Since his trade to the Washington Wizards in 2021, Kuzma has shown a step up in terms of production, averaging a line of 21.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists during his 64 games played last season.

With the current questionable state of the Wizards, along with the addition of new GM Michael Winger, the future of Kuzma in DC isn’t quite set in stone. This leads to questions of if we could see the forward join the third team of his career this offseason.

In an article posted by Bleacher Report, we saw NBA writer Dan Favale propose one ambitious free agent for each team. He had this to say about the chance of Kuzma getting picked up by the Jazz:

"The Jazz don't need to prioritize a slow-burn rebuild with so many rival first-rounders under their belt,. They can look to actively plug holes in the rotation and render themselves peskier irritants in the short term.” Favale writes, "Kyle Kuzma accomplishes just this. He isn't the most scintillating shooter, but Utah deploys spacey lineups that can capitalize on his attacking inside the arc... Attainability could be an issue, but not an unworkable one. The Jazz can try paying Kuzma outright or brokering a sign-and-trade with Washington. And after playing three seasons at the University of Utah, his familiarity with the market could lend a helping hand."

- Dan Favale on Kuzma’s fit on the Jazz,

via

Bleacher Report

Kuzma’s fit in Utah would likely be an interesting one. He’s shown he’s able to be effective playing with a similar lengthy, scoring big to Lauri Markkanen in Kristaps Porzingis. Adding the size of Kuzma (who stands 6 ‘9) in the frontcourt would give the Jazz one of the largest frontcourts in the league, with what would be an absurd average height of 6’ 11.

The excessive size does propose the issue of being almost too big when it comes to playing meaningful playoff-level basketball. Bigger teams typically aren’t as quick or mobile as the smaller teams in the league, eventually leading to some defensive shortcomings. In such an offensive-based league, being able to keep up with some of the best, often speedy, scoring threats is hard without versatile defenders. Being defensively mismatched can simply kill a team’s chances of having meaningful success.

Therefore, the Jazz should approach this acquisition with caution. Yes, the scoring upside of Kuzma is enticing, but adding a more versatile defender to pair with Markkanen in the frontcourt may prove to be a better decision than adding the current Wizards’ forward.

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