Jazz signs G League star in latest roster move
12/31/2024 04:51 PM
The Utah Jazz are one of the teams firmly in the tanking race for the 2025 NBA Draft where the top three players are expected to be Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. When a team is mired in a rebuild like the Jazz are, finding quality players on the edges and developing prospects is key. The NBA’s two-way contracts are perfect for that, and the Jazz used an open roster spot to add a G League standout this week.
The Jazz signed Elijah Harkless of the San Diego Clippers to a two-way contract, filling an open roster spot that came from waiving David Jones, as per Tony Jones of The Athletic.
Harkless joins Micah Potter and Oscar Tshiebwe as the Jazz’s three players under two-way contracts. Each of them are limited to only 50 NBA regular season games and are ineligible for playoffs. They will spend most of their live game reps with the Salt Lake City Stars in the G League.
The Jazz have had some recent success with the G League and two-way contracts with Johnny Juzang earning a standard contract for this season. Two-way contracts do not count against the salary cap, and teams can essentially rotate players throughout the season.
What Elijah Harkless brings to Jazz’s roster
It’s unlikely that Harkless sees any kind of consistent rotation minutes for the Jazz. But he is the kind of prospect that teams should be looking to develop.
Harkless’ calling card is defense and he was able to showcase that ability during 2024 NBA Summer League while playing with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers brought Harkless to training camp, but he was one of their last roster cuts. He had been playing with their G League affiliate, the San Diego Clippers, when the Jazz signed him.
Undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft, Harkless had yet to make an NBA roster. He played for the Clippers’ G League team during the 2023-24 season, and also had a brief stint playing in Canada in the Canadien Elite Basketball League (CEBL).
This season, Harkless had been a standout in the G League. During the G League’s Showcase Cup portion of the season, Harkless had appeared in 16 games, averaging 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 steals with splits of 42 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 78.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Before the Jazz signed him, he had appeared in two regular season games following the showcase. In those two games, he was averaging 26.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals with splits of 55.6 percent shooting from the field, 50 percent shooting from the three-point line and 100 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The post Jazz signs G League star in latest roster move appeared first on ClutchPoints.
