The Jazz on Wednesday officially completed the sign-and-trade transaction that made Walker Kessler a Laker. Had the Jazz found an opportunity to roll another acquisition into that deal, they could have taken back up to around $24 million in salary, much more than the $15 million non-simultaneous trade credit they'll now carry for up to a year. Some analysts thought that pursuit might be the hang-up on making the trade official, but it would appear that the right deal wasn't out there in the short term.

Hours later, they struck a deal to add center Mo Bamba to their depth chart, their 15th standard contract. Barring trades, it would appear the Jazz are more or less done with free agent signings. They had previously retained incumbent center Jusuf Nurkic and reached agreements with Jaxson Hayes and Josh Okogie.

Overall, the Jazz still have a very exciting roster. Star bigs Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. have both been borderline All-NBA at their best[fn]Both topped out at 17th in voting for 15 All-NBA spots.[/fn], and they have a pair of absolutely scintillating top-5 picks alongside an ascendant Keyonte George.

And yeah, they'd be better with Kessler complementing that group, but the Jazz may have decided that he was simply a luxury at that price tag. If everything goes right with Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey, then Kessler might have been tracking to be the fifth or sixth most important player in a future sense. Paying $32.5 million annually to your fifth or sixth best player makes NBA salary-Tetris extremely challenging. Instead, the Jazz will attempt to replace some of Kessler's impact by committee, but that will be hard. Kessler is a rebounding machine, and has held opponents to 52.6% rim shooting in his four years in the NBA — an elite figure.

While losing him stings, the Jazz got a surprisingly rich return. Getting two unprotected picks in a sign-and-trade is almost unprecedented, plus there are swap rights that could sweeten Utah's draft luck in 2028 and 2030. The Jazz effectively wielded their leverage here, using the threat of the match[fn]Via restricted free agency[/fn] to scare the Lakers into coughing up assets to get a player they could have signed outright. Mark Pereira's assessment feels spot on: it's tough to lose him, but the Jazz get an A+ on the transactional level.

To wit, here were some reactions from NBA media. Kevin O'Connor said the Jazz "made out like bandits" in getting two unprotected picks and two swaps. Cap expert Yossi Goslan called it a "pretty unprecedented haul" for a restricted free agent. Zach Lowe called the package "obviously an overpay" on his recent podcast and talked about the "juicy, tasty" picks the Jazz got. The Hoop Collective, as relayed by our pal David J. Smith, said the Jazz took advantage of the Lakers' desperation and "milked them" for more draft capital than teams got for Kawhi Leonard or Jaylen Brown. SBNation gave the Jazz an A+ on the trade, the Lakers a D. With those assets on the table, Utah almost had to say yes.

Competitive teams don't usually hold an asset cache with 9 to 10 first rounders and up to 12 seconds in the next seven drafts. Pick trading rules would allow them to use as many as seven unprotected or lightly protected picks if a big "buyer"-style trade opportunity arises. Or they could ride it out and see where those picks land, potentially adding more top talent to the project along the way.

Utah also has plenty of flexibility under the tax and aprons to be opportunistic, plus they have that $15M trade exception.

Wednesday's signing of Bamba, though, likely signals that nothing is imminent. So shifting back on the present day, here's where Utah's depth sits with all 15 standard roster spots occupied.

• Traditional bigs: Nurkic, Hayes and Bamba are all typical screen-setting bigs. The fact that Utah signed three such players is probably an indication that they don't want to over-rely on asking Jackson or anybody else to play out of position at the five.
• Combo bigs: Jackson and Kyle Filipowski can both play some center in a pinch, but both are ideally fours.
• Big wings: The Jazz mostly use Markkanen here, even though he's certainly got the physical tools to play at the big forward spot, too. Bailey and Cody Williams are also big wings, although the latter could still stand to eat a Twinkie or two.
• Utility wings: Okogie, Brice Sensabaugh, Svi Mykhailiuk and John Konchar are all between 6'4" and 6'7".
• Creating guards: George, Peterson and Isaiah Collier should have the ball in their hands a lot. The fact that the Jazz didn't bolster this group is a sign that they really believe in Peterson's abilities right out of the gate.

That's actually a fairly balanced depth chart and rotation. They still feel a little light on A+ creation and ball handling, unless DP is the real thing right away and George's ascent continues. Not having a giant number on the salary sheet next to Kessler does make it slightly more likely that the Jazz can strike a fair extension deal with George, and reports indicate that there is indeed some renewed optimism there.

Here are some other quick transactional notes and/or dates that matter as the offseason rolls along:

• Per Tony Jones of The Athletic, Bamba's deal is only partially guaranteed for the upcoming season, and includes a team option on year two.
• Nurkic, Hayes, Okogie and Bamba will all be ineligible for trade until December 15.
• The Kessler trade exception will be worth half of whatever his starting salary is with the Lakers. It looks like the most his starting salary could be is $30,132,888 if the reporting is accurate on LAL's other business. That would mean Utah would have a trade credit for up to $15.066M. Trade exceptions can't be combined with other salaries or exceptions in trades, but there are many plus-value players whose salary would fit into that slot.
• Utah also has a nice bit of flexibility under the luxury tax ($23M or so) if they find some opportunities to take back more salary in a trade, but they'll have to use expanded salary matching to do so.
• They cannot exceed the $209M apron by virtue of having used more than the "mini" Mid-Level Exception (Hayes + Okogie).
• The deadline extension for rookie's in George's 2023 draft class is in mid October.
• Utah also has a Halloween deadline to decide on the 2027-28 rookie contract options of Bailey, Williams and Collier.

For now, it appears the Jazz have a roster ready. We'll see if that changes via trades.

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