Shelvin Mack traded to Utah Jazz for second round pick
By John Buhler
Shelvin Mack has officially been traded to the Utah Jazz for a second round pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports.
The Atlanta Hawks have made their first trade of the NBA trade deadline by sending veteran backup point guard Shelvin Mack to the Utah Jazz for a second round pick. This was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports.
The Atlanta Hawks are trading guard Shelvin Mack to the Utah Jazz for a second round draft pick, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 18, 2016
The Utah Jazz had been adamant about upgrading their point guard position at the NBA trade deadline. Utah has a great chance to make the Western Conference Playoffs for the first time since the end of the Jerry Sloan era in Salt Lake City, but has arguably the worst backcourt of the potential playoff teams in the West.
The Jazz had to deal with the season-ending knee injury of promising young Australian point guard Dante Exum and have reportedly not been all that thrilled with the play of point guard Trey Burke or shooting guard Alec Burks.
Utah had inquired about possibly pulling off a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for starting point guard Jeff Teague, as Utah’s head coach Quin Snyder had been the top assistant for head coach Mike Budenholzer during the 2013-14 NBA season.
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While it’s tough to lose a pro’s pro like Shelvin Mack in the backcourt, he wasn’t seeing hardly any playing time in Budenholzer’s bench rotation this season. This is because the Atlanta Hawks already have two great point guards ahead of Mack on the depth chart in starter Jeff Teague and sixth man Dennis Schroder.
Though Shelvin Mack is not going to start for the Jazz at point guard, he will be able to provide Utah with a veteran presence and good on-court vision at both the point and shooting guard positions. For the Jazz, it is crucial to make the Western Conference Playoffs, as their young corps is very much ready for valuable playoff experience.
Mack made the Eastern Conference Playoffs each year he was with the Atlanta Hawks and could provide the Jazz with some tips for how to conduct themselves in the first round of the postseason. It seemed that if the Atlanta Hawks were going to strike a deal this NBA trade deadline, it would end up being with the Utah Jazz, stemming from previous working relationship between head coaches Mike Budenholzer and Quin Snyder.
Next: Atlanta Hawks: Splitter's surgery means a trade is coming
It is however, odd that Shelvin Mack ended up being the guy from Atlanta going to Salt Lake City. Best of luck in Salt Lake, Shelvin.