The Utah Jazz reportedly had small forward Tobias Harris as a major free-agency target before acquiring point guard Mike Conley from the Memphis Grizzlies, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.
The Jazz now don't have cap space to offer Harris a max contract this summer and will likely pursue lower tier free agents.
Utah using its space on Conley also marks some minor good news for Philadelphia and any other suitor for Tobias Harris. The Jazz had Harris listed among their major free-agency targets, sources say, but they will move down into lower power forward tiers depending on what they do with (Derrick) Favors. Keep him, and they will be limited to using the room midlevel exception of about $4.8 million. Waive him, and they can crack open enough space to sign someone in the Nikola Mirotic/Bobby Portis/Marcus Morris/DeMarre Carroll tier. They could also send out Favors in a sign-and-trade for a free agent around that level.
Harris becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason. The Philadelphia 76ers want to re-sign the talented swingman, but they might not have enough money to keep Harris and All-Star small forward Jimmy Butler, who also enters the open market this summer.
Harris would have been a great fit for the Jazz, but Utah needed to upgrade its point guard position, which is why they pulled the trigger Conley.
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