The Utah Jazz will be the team of Markkanen and Fontecchio

The front office’s decision to trade first Rudy Gober and then Donovan Mitchell was clearly the end of a beautiful era for jazz. Now Salt Lake City is starting from scratch, hoping that fresh blood, multiple draft picks and new head coach Will Hardy will propel the organization to the top of the Western Conference for years to come.

The Mitchell-Gober concession and the trade that sent Bojan Bogdanovic to Detroit opened up space for certain athletes. Colin Sexton will be the new commander taking over from Mike Conley and relieving Jordan Clarkson, Malik Beasley along with Taylen Horton-Tucker and Nyquil Alexander-Williams will fill position two while Simone Fontecchio along with rookie Ochai Agbaji and rookie Stanley Johnson share the time in the three places.

The four will see Lauri Markkanen return to his natural position after a year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he was forced to play as a small forward to fit in the same five with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, while behind him was Jared Vanderbilt and his will be Kelly Olynyk, who will also help at center to fill the five spots that also include Walker Kessler and Yudoka Azabuki.

Completing the list are guards Jared Butler, Shaben Lee and Leandro Bolmaro, and forward gunpowder-smoking Rudy Gay, who is still under concession. Two-way contract has received one so far to guard Johnny Yousang. Jazz’s payroll is just over $143.3 million, meaning the organization is $25.7 million over the salary cap. There is no non-guaranteed contract, for the Jazz to drop below the cap they need to negotiate at least one player, maybe two, by the close of trade.