John Collins Trade: Utah Jazz Finalizing Deal to Land Forward in Swap With Hawks

• The Utah Jazz are finalizing a trade to acquire John Collins from the Atlanta Hawks
• The Jazz would send Rudy Gay and a future second-round Draft pick to the Hawks
• Atlanta netted a record-breaking trade exception in the swap with the Utah team

Blockbuster trades just keep on coming in the NBA.

The Atlanta Hawks are reportedly finalizing a deal with the Utah Jazz that would send John Collins to Salt Lake City.

The Hawks would move forward, Rudy Gay, and a future second-round pick to the Hawks in the trade.

The Hawks decided to move on from Collins, who is owed $78 million over the next three NBA seasons.

Atlanta gets huge trade exception

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Utah providing Atlanta with a $25.3mil trade exception in the swap was a major factor in the two sides sealing the deal.

Get to know about the top 15 best point guards in the NBA in 2022

NBA

The Hawks have one year to use the exception - the largest in the NBA - to take on a player's contract. The deal cannot become official until July 6.

The acquisition of Gay allows Atlanta to drop beneath the $165mil luxury tax threshold for the 2023-24 season.

Apart from giving the Hawks financial flexibility to explore possible contract extensions for young players Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, and Onyeka Okongwu, the deal will also help open up playing time for Atlanta’s talented young bigs.

Collins to bolster Jazz frontcourt

Collins will look for a fresh start in Utah after enduring poor campaigns the past few seasons with Atlanta. His stats have declined since averaging a career-best 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in the 2019-20 season.

Collins will help shore up a Utah frontcourt that already boasts All-Star forward, Lauri Markkanen, and All-Rookie center, Walker Kessler, per NBA.com.

Paul Pierce vs Dwyane Wade: Who had the better NBA career?

NBA

Markkanen won the Most Improved Player award last season after averaging 25.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game in his first year with the Jazz.

Kessler also impressed in his rookie season with Utah, averaging 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per outing. He was a menace on the defensive end, ranking fourth in the NBA in blocks per game.

The Jazz also have rookie Taylor Hendricks in their frontcourt after selecting him with the ninth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Neymar and Butler play bowling

Sports Brief recently reported on Neymar and Jimmy Butler's bowling clash.

The two friends and sports stars were spotted having a fun time in Brazil.

Butler posted the video of the duo playing together on his Instagram story.