NBA trade news: Jazz looking for PG upgrade, Jrue Holiday possible target

The Utah Jazz are rumoured to be looking for a point guard upgrade to boost their playoff hopes in the Western Conference.

According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, the Jazz are checking the trade market for an available point guard who would complement their lineup as a spot-up guy and defensive cog.

“They’re poking around the point guard market now, according to several league sources, and they’ll look again over the summer,” Lowe noted. “With [Rodney] Hood and [Gordon] Hayward able to handle the ball, the ideal upgrade isn’t an expensive dribbling maestro like Mike Conley.”

The Jazz have fallen out of the West’s top eight teams and are now trailing closely behind the Sacramento Kings and the Portland Trailblazers with a 19-25 record. Making a trade would make sense for the Jazz, but the league is lacking available defensive point guards who fit Utah’s bill. However, one name that could possibly be under the Jazz’s radar is Jrue Holiday of the New Orleans Pelicans, according to Lowe.

Utah does not have the pieces to orchestrate a trade that would send Holiday to Salt Lake City. If the Pels would trade Holiday to the Jazz, they would probably either ask for an expiring contract or one of Utah’s young guns who could fit in New Orleans’ attempt to rebuild around Anthony Davis.

Enter Trevor Booker.

Booker is playing in the final year of his two-year $9 million contract with the Jazz. Although the 28-year-old is not exactly young, he is still in his prime and could contribute off the bench, although he is only averaging 5.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game on 23.0 minutes of playing time.

ESPN’s trade machine succeeds a straight swap of Booker for Holiday, but Cody Williams of Sports llustrated’s Fansided believes the Pelicans intend to hold on to their starting point guard despite injury concerns.

“Though his role in New Orleans has been odd this season after he started the year injured and has since largely been coming off of the bench and though there is at least some interest around the league, everything put together indicates that Jrue Holiday is going to be with the Pelicans at least past the deadline and for the remainder of the 2015-16 season,” Williams wrote.

The Pelicans still have a chance to make the playoffs as they are only 3.5 games behind the Blazers, who currently holds eighth place in the West. Booker is not exactly the game-changer the Pels want, so it would not make sense moving Holiday to the Jazz.