NBA Rumors: Utah Jazz Open To Trading For Wing After Joe Ingles' ACL Tear

The Utah Jazz suffered a terrible blow in their chances of being a contender in the upcoming playoffs with the injury of Joe Ingles, and they are now allegedly exploring the market for his replacement.

According to Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan of Hoops Hype, the Jazz have already tagged four players to consider trading for ahead of the February 10 NBA trade deadline.

“Utah has discussed several wing options, including Harrison Barnes, Robert Covington, Josh Richardson, Josh Okogie, sources say. They’ve certainly done due diligence, and the mold of finding a defensive wing certainly appears to fit with all those names. There’s a commonality there,” they disclosed.

Scotto and Gozlan are correct in their assessment that the four players are defensive wings and will certainly be able to help out in improving the Jazz’s 13th– ranked defense according to subscription-based stats site Cleaning The Glass.

However, swinging a deal for the Sacramento Kings’ Harrison Barnes might be their best bet as he is a two-way threat that the Jazz can utilize as their third option on offense while also being able to hold his own on the defensive end.

Josh Okogie, while young and talented, lacks the experience to be a consistent contributor offensively due to his subpar shooting.

Josh Richardson and Robert Covington are well-regarded defensive-minded players around the league, but they are better utilized as 3-and-D players instead of a respectable third option like Barnes.

The Jazz might need to part ways with one of their first-round picks in order to trade for the 29-year-old swingman, but there is reasonable doubt that the Kings would want to get Ingles back for Barnes.

Utah could try dangling Bojan Bogdanovic for salary-matching reasons and it also makes the most sense without giving up Ingles.

Bogdanovic and Barnes’ skillsets overlap each other and it will certainly benefit both teams.

Sacramento gets a proven veteran that can be relied on to score the ball from anywhere on the court, especially from three, while Utah gets a scorer that has championship experience.

With the emergence of the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors returning to full strength, the pressure is on for the Jazz to stay in step with them and a trade for Barnes will help them move in the right direction.