What Does Alexander-Walker Bring To The Jazz?

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz are acquiring guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker from the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that includes veteran Joe Ingles and young wing Elijah Hughes.

The Jazz are sending Ingles, Hughes, and a second-round pick to Portland, while the San Antonio Spurs are getting Tomas Satoransky and another second-rounder from Utah in the deal.

San Antonio is also sending veteran forward Juancho Hernangomez to the Jazz in the deal.

The @utahjazz are acquiring Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Juancho Hernangomez in a trade involving Joe Ingles and Elijah Hughes. #TakeNote https://t.co/mtOjb4Vtjj

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 9, 2022

But why did the Jazz make this trade?

First, after Ingles tore his ACL in last Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the veteran’s fate was sealed. With a $14 million expiring contract and the Jazz needing additional help at the trade deadline, Ingles was already the team’s most likely player to be traded.

After his season-ending injury, it was just a matter of when the Jazz traded Ingles, not if.

However, with Ingles out, the Jazz suddenly found themselves short on experienced bodies in the backcourt, adding another must-have before Thursday’s trade deadline.

Enter Alexander-Walker.

In his third season in the NBA, the former 17th overall pick from the 2019 NBA draft hasn’t quite lived up to his expectations coming out of Virginia Tech but is far from a bust.

NAW beats the 3rd quarter buzzer 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2s4KMTQZeH

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 22, 2021

Alexander-Walker averages 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 26 minutes with the Pelicans this season, but struggled the shoot the ball. The guard knocked down just 37 percent of his field-goal attempts and 31 percent of his threes.

The guard’s shooting woes are by far the biggest concern about his game, but there is evidence those numbers can improve.

First, Alexander-Walker was a promising shooter coming out of college where he knocked down a healthy 38 percent of his three-point attempts.

Additionally, he’s connected on 37 percent of his corner three-point attempts during his three-year NBA career, a significant uptick over his 30 percent success rate above the break.

Furthermore, Alexander-Walker saw a dip in production after Lonzo Ball left the roster, putting more on the guard’s plate to set up the Pelicans’ offense.

With All-Stars Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell on the Jazz’s roster, Alexander-Walker won’t carry the offensive workload he did in New Orleans.

The Jazz also have a strong recent history of improving the shooting habits of players on their roster. Most recently, Eric Paschall has seen his shooting climb from 30 percent in his first two seasons with the Golden State Warriors to 38 percent in Utah.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker dropped a career-high 37 PTS in his second career start 🔥 pic.twitter.com/b4lqsoPckx

— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 14, 2021

Royce O’Neale and Mike Conley are other good examples of players who have seen spikes in shooting in Utah over their careers.

At 23-years-old, Alexander-Walker can’t be expected to step in and have the same impact Ingles had during his illustrious career in Utah, but with the Jazz history of success developing talent, the guard is a low-cost, high-upside gamble.

Financial Savings

In addition to Alexander-Walker’s play on the floor, the Jazz will also save a significant amount of money by moving Ingles and Hughes before the deadline.

According to ESPN, the deal should save the Jazz roughly $11 million in luxury tax spending if the roster remains unchanged before Thursday’s trade window closes.

The Jazz are significantly over the luxury tax threshold and are due to pay significant penalties due to their bloated payroll.

Contract/cap impact:

🏀To SAS: T. Satoransky ($10M)

🏀To UTH: J. Hernangomez- $6.9M and $7.4M (non-guaranteed), N. Alexander-Walker- $3.3M and $5M
💰$11M in tax savings

🏀To POR: J. Ingles- $13M and E. Hughes- $1.5M

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 9, 2022

By shedding Ingles $14 million contract and Hughes $1.5 million deal while taking back less than $10 million between Alexander-Walker and Hernangomez, the Jazz luxury tax bill dropped significantly.

The Jazz are still free to make trades before Thursday’s deadline, including the contract of Hernangomez which could he moved to further reduce the luxury tax bill before the end of the season.

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