Utah Jazz forward Luka Samanic is on his way to making the 2023-24 roster. By not getting waived on Tuesday, he was guaranteed $400,000 of his $2 million salary.
The next hurdle will be on October 23, when Samanic will be guaranteed another $600,000 if he makes the opening-day roster. With this news, it looks to be trending in the direction of Samanic residing in Salt Lake City next year.
The 6-foot-9 forward out of Croatia was selected with the No. 19 overall pick of the 2019 draft by the San Antonio Spurs. In two seasons in San Antonio, Samanic only suited up 36 times under Spurs head coach Greg Popovich, where he averaged 3.8 points per contest.
After his stint with the Spurs, Samanic has bounced around the G-League with three different teams, which included making the All-NBA G League second team in 2023.
Samanic may have earned his way onto the opening-day roster with a strong performance in the 2023 Summer League. There he averaged 16.7 ppg while hauling in seven rebounds. Although it appears Samanic will be on Utah's opening-day roster, it’s not clear whether he’ll immediately be a part of the rotation.
The Jazz already have three power forwards projected to be ahead of Samanic on the depth roster in John Collins, Kelly Olynyk, and Taylor Hendricks. However, there could be some minutes available as Lauri Markkanen’s backup at the small forward position.
As of right now, there’s no clear-cut option, but Simone Fontecchio, Ochai Agbaji, and Taylor Horton-Tucker would be candidates for that role.
Jazz fans will get a clearer picture of how it all shakes out with training camp a little more than two months away.
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