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Russell Westbrook is, in fact, the 2017 NBA Most Valuable Player. He is, in theory, a 2023 Sixth Man of the Year candidate. This season, he’s averaged 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 52 games for the Lakers.
And after being included in the three-team deal Wednesday night that sent Mike Conley to the Wolves and D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to the Lakers …
Westbrook probably will never play one second for the Utah Jazz.
There are a ton of reasons for that, frankly, which my Trib sports colleague Kevin Reynolds thoroughly covered. Suffice it to say, Westbrook will almost assuredly reach a buyout agreement with the team and become an unrestricted free agent.
If and when that happens, he’ll be the latest addition to a storied list of players who technically were, at one time, members of the Utah Jazz but who never actually suited up for the team. So, in honor of the just-completed trade deadline, let’s take a look at the All-Time Never Played for the Jazz Team.
Dominique Wilkins
The ultimate one who got away. After the Lakers drafted James Worthy No. 1 overall in 1982, and the San Diego Clippers followed with Terry Cummings, the Jazz landed “The Human Highlight Film” at No. 3. The relationship got off to a rocky start when the organization apparently angered him by telling him they planned to use him as a power forward. It became a moot point a couple of months later when the financially-struggling franchise opted to send him to Atlanta in exchange for John Drew, Freeman Williams, and a desperately-needed $1 million in cash. It’s one of the most lopsided deals in NBA history, considering they gave away a future Hall of Famer and one of the most electrifying players ever, but it helped the franchise stay afloat.
Rony Seikaly
Twenty-five years ago, the title-contending Jazz thought they were adding a talented scoring center in Rony Seikaly, who was averaging 15.0 points and 7.6 rebounds for Orlando at the time. Except he never reported to the team. He subsequently claimed that the Jazz had backed out of the trade because he had a foot injury. Except that, y’know, the Jazz and the league announced the deal, even shipped two guys to Orlando, and Seikaly just didn’t show up in SLC within the allotted 48 hours. He never explained that one. As it turns out, his foot injury was a problem. The Magic wound up trading him to the Nets, and he only played nine more games that season, plus nine the next, averaging 3.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in those games.
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Derek Harper
This one is technically cheating a bit. The year before the ill-fated Seikaly trade, there was an ill-fated Derek Harper trade. Well, there was going to be, anyway. The Jazz were trying to upgrade their backup point guard position to make a deep playoff run in ’97, and had a deal in place with Dallas to acquire the vet Harper in exchange for Greg Foster, Jamie Watson, and a draft pick. The trade apparently never became official, because even though Harper didn’t have a no-trade clause, he made it known that, owing to the state’s racial demographics, he simply wasn’t going to come here, infamously telling ESPN: “There was a Utah deal, but you go live in Utah. Nothing against Utah or their team, but I don’t want to live there.”
Derrick Rose
Around the trade deadline five years ago, the Jazz completed a three-team deal with the Kings and Cavs, trading Rodney Hood to Cleveland and Joe Johnson to Sacramento, and getting back Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose. The ALL CAPS-tweeting Crowder became a fan favorite here, but Rose — the former MVP whose career was beset by serious knee problems — was bought out because, as my coverage partner Andy Larsen put it: “He’s had a negative plus-minus for the last four years, and with his high usage rate, could have hijacked the Jazz’s offense.”
Kendrick Perkins
Ten years ago, the Jazz executed another three-team trade, this time to ship off disgruntled center Enes Kanter. The deal saw the Jazz trade Kanter and Steve Novak to OKC, who also got D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler from Detroit. The Thunder shipped Reggie Jackson to the Pistons. And Utah got the memorable package of rookie forward Grant Jerrett, the rights to German center Tibor Pleiss, center Kendrick Perkins, a future first from Oklahoma City, and a 2017 second from Detroit. With the Jazz devoting their big man minutes to Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, Big Perk was let go.
Patrick Beverley
The most recent player to make the list (Non-Westbrook Division) would be Beverley, the one-time All-Defensive Team-level nuisance who’s fallen off a bit. He came to the Jazz this past July 1 as part of the haul the team got in exchange for trading Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves. Four weeks later, he made it known he was happy to play for the Jazz if they decided not to trade Donovan Mitchell and remain a competitive team, but that he had no interest in being on a rebuilding roster. About a month after that, the Jazz tried to do right by him, sending him to the Lakers in exchange for Talen Horton-Tucker. (It didn’t really work — both Beverley and L.A. underwhelmed, and as part of the team’s latest reset, he was traded to Orlando on Thursday in exchange for Mo Bamba.)
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