Ty Lawson not going to the Utah Jazz

Ty Lawson is not going to the Utah Jazz, as talks between Utah and the Houston Rockets have reportedly ended in the hours before the NBA trade deadline.

While the Jazz are certainly still looking to upgrade their point guard position as they press on towards a potential Western Conference playoff berth, they have ceased trade discussions with the Rockets about their point guard Ty Lawson.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported that “both teams have moved on” in trade talks regarding Lawson. Wojnarowski also reports that the Rockets are not interested in potentially buying out Lawson on his contract to make him a free agent.

With Dante Exum being out for the year and the Trey Burke/Alec Burks backcourt becoming somewhat over an Achilles’ heel for the Jazz, it would make sense for them to continue to search the trade market for potential upgrades at the point guard position.

Utah reportedly had interest in making a deal with the Atlanta Hawks for their starting point guard in Jeff Teague, but the Hawks have now decided to stay pat with their current roster entering the second half.

The Jazz have a strong, defensive-minded young corps centered around small forward Gordon Hayward, power forward Derrick Favors, and center Rudy Gobert for head coach Quin Snyder. With the Jazz looking to make the Western Conference playoffs for the first time since the end of the Jerry Sloan era, Utah may need to grind until the last minutes heading into the NBA trade deadline to procure what they likely need to make the NBA Playoffs at the point guard position.

Making the playoffs is a huge priority for the Jazz this season, so they may end up finding a short-term upgrade at the point for the second half. However, it seems that neither Lawson or Teague will end up being that solution for the Jazz.