Toronto Raptors trade Steve Novak to Utah Jazz

By Jack Crosby | Jul 4, 2014

Mar 12, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey diagrams a play to forward Steve Novak (16) during the second half against the Detroit Pistons at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto defeated Detroit 101-87. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Toronto Raptors, as we saw this past season, are one of the up-and-coming teams in the NBA, and they’d like to keep it that way. To stay successful, you have to make some moves in the offseason, and they’ve certainly done that. Following their recent re-signing of guard Kyle Lowry this past week, they’ve now hit the trade market, sending Steve Novak to the Utah Jazz.

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Of course, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to break the news of Novak heading back to the United States with the Jazz.

Toronto has traded Steve Novak to the Utah Jazz, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 4, 2014

In a recent blog post over at NBA.com, this move was sort of foreshadowed following the re-signing of Lowry, pointing out the amount of money Novak was being paid to basically sit the bench.

"Adding one of those guys, keeping Vasquez, and staying under the tax line will be a challenge. If Darren Collison can get the full mid-level exception (from Vasquez’s former team) in Sacramento, Vasquez should surely be worth that much. Complicating matters is that Toronto is already paying small forwards LandryFields and SteveNovak almost $10 million to ride the pine."

Well it appears the Raptors have fixed that problem by making this move on Friday, and there might even be more to come from this team as they look to continue their success into the future.

Last season was Novak’s first with the Raptors after three season with the Knicks, In the 2013-14 campaign, he averaged just 3.3 points per game in 10 minutes.