The San Antonio Spurs have traded veteran forward Boris Diaw to the Utah Jazz, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The move clears the necessary cap space to allow the Spurs to sign Pau Gasol. Utah will send back Olivier Hanlan, a 2015 second-round pick who played overseas last season and will likely be waived.
Boris Diaw traded to Jazz to clear cap space, according to report
San Antonio is making the move to clear the room necessary to sign Pau Gasol.
Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
The Spurs guaranteed Diaw's $7 million salary for this year prior to free agency, but needed to offload it to fit in Gasol's $15-plus million next season. R.C. Buford evidently dialed up an old friend in Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsay and the two hammered out a deal. The Jazz can absorb Diaw's salary into their nearly $20 million of cap space.
The 34-year-old Diaw saw his minutes steadily drop in San Antonio this year and actually fell out of Gregg Popovich's rotation entirely during their second-round series loss to the Thunder. That said, the Jazz could use his passing skill to complement Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, though second-year man Trey Lyles may already be ready to usurp the job. Diaw will replace Trevor Booker, who has agreed to a deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
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