RealGM

Hi all,

Its been some time since I have posted here. I live in Denver and Im a huge Jazz fan. I was listening to the mid-day radio show here and briefly heard the radio host say something about the Jazz are interested in Desmond Mason. Is there any rumor of this today in Utah? I guess if this has any truth in it, that could it make for a trade that might send AK or CJ to OKC in some sort of a package for Mason and other former Sonics players. Does anyone know what Mason's contract is this year? I recall reading that his contract is up after this season.

Please let me know if there is any talk of this in Utah.

Go Jazz!

First, the Jazz can't send CJ anywhere for a year.

Second, I don't really see anyone on the Sonics that the Jazz would trade for, and even then I don't think mason can be traded for another 30 days or something after this trade he was just included in.

I really wouldn't take anything you hear on Denver radio too seriously.

While I dont deny that talk radio is valid resource about that a team is doing. Let alone a radio station that doesnt have any affiliation to the team we are talking about. I have to give them some credit cause a month ago when a caller called to compare the nuggets with the rest on our division the same radio host stated that the Jazz were attempting to make moves including shopping a then backup PG aka Jason Hart. While thats not earth shattering news and Im sure to a certain degree the Hart move was predictable, I never heard or seen anything leading up to that radio conversation. A few days later the Jazz moved Hart for Knight. Again not earth shattering but it might be something to keep in mind and if AK is really being shopped to save $$$ and if OKC is high on CJ, those are the reasons I thought it was worth posting the info I heard this time.

The Jazz could trade CJ with his permission to any team, but OKC. I'm not sure who to trade for Mason. Maybe Harpring. That would save money down the road because Mason has an expiring contract. So with Harp's contract off the books next year, that is 5-6 million saved next offseason to re-sign our good guys. Plus it works.

Why OKC would do this, is that it gives them a tough guy to play with the young guns. Plus it works in the trade checker

Desmond Mason is making $5.3 mill in his contracts final season. By the rules of the CBA, OKC cannot trade Mason for two months if he is being traded in combination with other players. However, they are free to trade Mason by himself (not packaged with other players) immediately. So in theory if they did a Mason for Harpring trade, it could happen.

My own personal skepticism comes in where Desmond Mason is a local favorite in Oklahoma so a trade of his expiring contract for Harpring's expiring contract (next season of Harp's deal is not guaranteed according to a certain NBA salary site) doesn't make a whole lot of sense for OKC--unless they want to keep Harpring for 2 seasons.

In looking around, no rumor I've seen coming out of any of the SLC outlets. But I wonder if the comment had to do with the Jazz trying to get involved in the 3-way deal with Milwaukee and Cleveland but it worked out with Oklahoma City instead?

Here is my guess, an inside source from Milwaukee said the deal involved Cleveland and a Northwest division rival of the Nuggets. So automatically they assumed the Jazz, and when they heard Mason was involved they just assumed Utah was the most like fit.