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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are playing facilitator again.
The Jazz have taken on veteran guard Dennis Schroder as part of a multi-team trade that will send All-Star Jimmy Butler from Miami to Golden State, league sources have confirmed to KSL.com
The Jazz are sending P.J. Tucker, who they recently acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers last weekend, to the Heat as part of the deal. Utah will get a 2031 second-round pick for helping facilitate the deal.
The Jazz will replace Tucker’s $11.5 million deal with Schroder’s $13 million, essentially buying the second-round pick for the difference of salaries. Tucker was never going to suit up for Utah, and the team isn’t expected to keep Schroder, either. Utah has until Thursday’s 1 p.m. MST trade deadline to move Schroder. If they can’t find a partner, he’ll likely be bought out.
But like the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade last weekend, the Jazz are a mere footnote in the deal.
The Warriors added another All-Star in Butler in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and Schroder. The Heat then brought in other teams to finish the deal.
Some of the details are still murky — like where Anderson will eventually end up — but the part that concerns Utah is clear: The Jazz are getting another second-round pick and are, once again, part of a monster NBA deal.
The Warriors will send Wiggins and Anderson plus a top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick to the Heat for Butler. Schroder will be sent to the Utah Jazz. Tucker, who played with the Heat in 2021-22, goes to Miami. Warriors guard Lindy Waters III will go to the Detroit Pistons, and Miami’s Josh Richardson will go to Detroit.
This is the fourth deal Utah has made ahead of the deadline — the last three of which have all been semi-connected. With some wheeling and dealing, the Jazz turned Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks into four second-round picks (a pretty good return for two end-of-bench veterans), and that included getting something for Tucker’s ghost.
With Utah chasing lottery odds, this deadline wasn’t ever going to bring back a franchise-altering player, but Justin Zanik and Co. at least got some good value for players that weren’t in the Jazz’s future.
