The Utah Jazz do not seem overly worried about Gordon Hayward’s scheduled foray into free agency next summer.
That’s a big deal. Hayward holds a player option on 2017-18 worth a little more than $16.7 million, which he will decline. He is in the prime of his career and the salary cap is expected to jump by a substantial margin once again. Plenty of teams will come calling, and it’s unlikely Hayward and his people will soon forget that the Jazz waited for the Charlotte Hornets to max him out in restricted free agency before re-signing in 2014.
Still, that doesn’t seem to be keeping Utah, specifically general manager Dennis Lindsey, up at night. The Jazz exec did an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, during which he preached optimism about Hayward’s future with the team (via HoopsHype):
“For us I think, as much as anything, we need to be ourselves with Gordon, need to be authentic and real and then he’s going to have a decision to make. But fundamentally, if we do the right things here… Let’s just be honest, we have an advantage by having his Bird rights. There’s a lot of money associated with the fifth year and higher raises.”
Granted, Lindsey doesn’t sound unconditionally optimistic. But he probably doesn’t want to sound too confident, so as to speak for Hayward, and his reasoning is sound. The Jazz can offer Hayward more money and years than any other team. And they may be able to offer him even more money/yearly raises depending how the current collective bargaining agreement negotiations shake out. More important still, Utah seems prepared to utilize the full extent of those financial advantages to keep Hayward, something it very obviously waited on a few years back.
All in all, the likelihood of Hayward re-signing with the Jazz is good.
Is it great?
That much rests on this season.
If Hayward, who is currently nursing a broken finger in his left hand, and the Jazz make a playoff run, establishing themselves as the Western Conference threat most expect them to be, then he has very little reason to search for greener pastures. But if this seasons goes awry in any way, ending in a fashion that can be construed as disappointing, Hayward is more likely to test the market, and test it hard.
