The first trade in the West is triggered: Jazz send Fontagio to the Pistons, and the dominoes begin
With less than 30 hours left before the trade deadline, the first trade finally appeared in the West:
According to NBA "whistleblower" WOJ, the Utah Jazz sent the team's Italian forward Fontagio to the Pistons for Knox, a 2024 second-round pick and the signing rights of fellow Italian player Gabriele Procida.
As a potential seller in this trading market, this move by the Utah Jazz is likely to trigger the launch of the entire "trading dominoes" in the West.
Previously, there have been frequent transactions in the East, with big fish such as Siakam and Anunoby looking for another owner, while popular teams such as the Warriors, Lakers, Rockets, and Clippers in the West have been unable to start, and the two sides have always been stuck together, waiting for a node to collectively detonate and accumulate steadily.
As the current leading scorer in the Italian men's basketball team, Fontagio has not been given many opportunities since joining the Jazz last season.
In his debut season, he played in just 52 games, contributing 6.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 14.6 minutes while shooting just 33.1 percent from three-point range.
This season, he has been valued by head coach Hardy, playing in 50 games, starting 34 of them, scoring 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 23.2 minutes, shooting 39.1% from three-point range, showing the level of European ace shooting in many games.
This time he joined the Pistons, it is very likely that this team at the bottom of the East is preparing to send away Bojan Bogdanovic, who is also a European sharpshooter, he is almost the best player in the current Pistons team, such as the Clippers, 76ers, Lakers and other teams have expressed interest in him.
At the same time, after the Jazz get Knox, the outside personnel will be further redundant, and trade favorites such as Clarkson and Sexton may leave the team at any time.
Whether it's for the Jazz or the Pistons, this operation is an introduction to prepare for the next good show.