Garrett Temple is the Wizards’ third point guard behind John Wall and Ramon Sessions.
In other words, Temple is a luxury in Washington.
The Jazz – who just lost Dante Exum to a torn ACL – might view him as more of a necessity.
Jody Genessy of the Deseret News:Jazz coach Quin Snyder is pushing for the deal, according to the source
Snyder and Temple established a good relationship when the guard was with the San Antonio Spurs at the end of the 2009-10 season.
J. Michael of CSN Washington:
I just talked to Temple. Hasnt heard anything yet but admits "good relationship" w/Snyder from DLeague https://t.co/6kmGioJh2u
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) August 6, 2015
Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey was also a San Antonio assistant general manager when Temple played there.
The 6-foot-6 Temple uses his size to defend the backcourt well. If he can repeat the best 3-point shooting season of his career – 37.5% on 4.3 attempts per 36 minutes – Temple might be nearly as good as a healthy Exum right now. Exum (20) is much, much more valuable than Temple (28) because of his age, but immediate production is a different story.
Temple could battle Trey Burke for the starting job, raising Utah’s floor at point guard. The Burke-Temple combination would also prevent the Jazz from having to rely on the unproven Bryce Cotton or Raul Neto in the rotation.
Acquiring Temple shouldn’t really set Utah back long-term, either. He’s on the final year of a minimum contract. Plus, he’s not good enough for Washington to command a significant return. Utah, through Exum, has the luxury of knowing a low-usage, defense-first point guard works behind the Gordon Hayward-Derrick Favors-Rudy Gobert frontcourt. Don’t mistake that for believing Temple is a gem.
With a payroll of $81,485,782, the Wizards aren’t really in jeopardy of surpassing the luxury-tax line ($84,740,000) or their hard cap ($88,740,000). But – probably more importantly – dumping Temple’s $1,100,602 salary would keep a little more money in owner Ted Leonsis’ pockets. Plus, that’d give Washington just 14 players with guaranteed salaries, opening the flexibility of a vacant roster spot.
