Shopping Suggestions from SLAM Magazine

[UPDATE: Aaaaand just like that, Calderon is off the board.]

After the historic loss on Monday to the visiting Houston Rockets (no link provided. We’ve all agreed to forget about it), the trade fervor is at an all-time high.

Countering several calls to simply trade every single Jazz player and fire every coach, Slam Magazine proposes a very rational trade: Jose Calderon and Chandler Parsons end up with the Jazz, while Utah ships out Paul Millsap and Marvin Williams to the Rockets and Raptors, respectively.

Rockets Receive: Paul Millsap, Landry Fields
Jazz Receive: Jose Calderon, Chandler Parsons
Raptors Receive: Donatas Motiejunas, Terrance Jones, Tony Douglas, Cole Aldrich, Marvin Williams

Financial Details: This one’s a doozy. The Rockets aren’t sending out nearly as much as they’re bringing back, but they have some cap space, which absorbs the difference. Meanwhile, the Jazz move about $17 million in contracts and bring in $11.5 million—a nice bonus for a small-market team. The Raptors move roughly $16 million and acquire roughly $16 million.

Here’s what’s in it for the Jazz:

The Short Answer: Missing pieces.
The Long Answer: They key to this trade is that Millsap and Al Jefferson are headed for unrestricted free agency. With Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter developing behind those two, there’s no way Utah splurges to sign both impending free agents.

They’re going to lose one for nothing if they wait until the summer to figure things out, so moving one before the deadline makes all the sense in the world. Gordon Hayward has developed into a very solid wing player, but they still need one more. Parsons fits the bill perfectly. More importantly, they have a humungous opening at point guard. Mo Williams was playing well before his injury, but at this point he’s better suited to come off the bench in a Jamal Crawford combo-guard role.

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They’d also have a really nice roster to build on top of. They’d enter next season with Calderon, Hayward, Parsons, Jefferson, Kanter, Favors, Mo and Alec Burks. They also have the Warriors 2013 pick via the Deron Williams trade as well as their own and the $10-16 million to spend. Top free agents this summer include Chris Paul, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Manu Ginobili, OJ Mayo, Paul Pierce, Josh Smith, Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum. An already-good team with money to spend could do very well in that market.

The trade makes a lot of sense for all the reasons mentioned. It would pain me to see Paul Millsap go, but I think the writing is on the wall. I’m not convinced the Raptors would pull the trigger on this trade, but they’ve made worse decisions. Here’s hoping our Canadian neighbors decide to help out.