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With the Utah Jazz’s NBA title dreams ending, here are three players who won’t be back next season.
The Utah Jazz ended the 2020-21 season with the best record in the NBA, thus clinching the top-seed in the Western Conference. This team felt as though they were destined to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1998 to hoist their first-ever Larry O’Brien trophy. That never came to fruition, as they were eliminated in the second round by the LA Clippers.
Utah now enters an offseason where they have six players hitting free agency, including guard Mike Conley. But that does not mean that any players under contract with the Jazz are safe. Here are three players that are more than likely not returning to the Jazz for the 2021-22 season.
3. Miye Oni
Miye Oni joined the Jazz as a second-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, by way of a trade with the Golden State Warriors. Oni has been more of a depth option during his time with Utah, where he has not received much significant playing time.
In his rookie season, Oni played in just 10 games (one start), averaging 3.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game while shooting 37.5 percent from the field. This year, Oni played in 54 regular-season games, none of which were starts, where he averaged 1.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game. In the playoffs, the swingman tallied 3 rebounds and 1 steal in 41 minutes over eight games.
Given his lack of playing time, Oni being replaced by a draft prospect sure is a possibility this offseason.