The Utah Jazz have traded forward Mehmet Okur to the New Jersey Nets for a second-round pick and a trade exception, the team announced Thursday night. Here's the full press release, via The Salt Lake Tribune:
Mehmet Okur Traded To New Jersey Nets For 2nd Round Pick, Trade Exception
The Jazz traded Mehmet Okur to the Nets for a 2015 second round pick and trade exception, giving the Nets a short-term replacement for injured big man Brook Lopez.
Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has acquired a future second-round draft pick and a trade exception from the New Jersey Nets in exchange for center Mehmet Okur.
Entering his 10th NBA season, Okur (6-11, 265, Yalova, Turkey), appeared in 13 games (no starts) for the Jazz during the 2010-11 campaign, averaging 4.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game. The 2007 NBA All-Star holds career averages of 13.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 617 career games (446 starts) with Detroit and Utah. Okur, who joined the Jazz prior to the 2004-05 season, departs the team ranking fourth on the franchise’s all-time list for three-pointers made (517), fifth for three-pointers attempted (1,358), and ninth in scoring (7,255), rebounding (3,599) and blocked shots (346).
The second-round pick is for 2015, but most importantly in this deal, the Nets get a big body to replace big man Brook Lopez, who will undergo surgery for a stress fracture in his foot and miss more than a month. Though Okur isn't the post presence Lopez is — he's one of those three-point shooting big men — he's height, and he's a solid rebounder. He's also familiar for Deron Williams, who lost his best supporting character in Lopez.
For more on the two teams involved in the trade, visit Nets Daily and Jazz blog SLC Dunk.
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