The Utah Jazz have acquired guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker from the Portland Trail Blazers and forward Juancho Hernangomez from the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team trade, sending Portland forward Joe Ingles, guard/forward Elijah Hughes and a future second-round draft pick. The Spurs received guard Tomas Satoransky from Portland and a future second-round draft pick from the Jazz.
Ingles, 34, averaged 7.2 points (40.4% FG, 34.7% 3-PT, 77.3%), 2.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 45 games (15 starts) for the Jazz this season. A veteran forward in his eighth NBA season, Ingles played professionally in his home country of Australia as well as Spain and Israel prior to signing with Utah in 2014. Ingles (6-8, 220) holds career averages of 8.6 points (44.9% FG, 40.8% 3-PT, 76.8% FT), 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 0.92 steals in 590 career games (313 starts) for the Jazz. The runner-up for the 2020-21 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, Ingles suffered a torn left ACL on January 30.
Hughes, 23, is averaging career-highs of 3.1 points (41.7% FG, 35.7% 3-PT, 100% FT), 1.2 rebounds and 0.4 assists in 14 games (one start) for the Jazz this season. The second-year guard out of Syracuse was selected with the 39th pick in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. The New York-native holds career averages of 2.3 points (37.9% FG, 35.3% 3-PT, 85.7% FT), 0.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists in 32 career games (one start).
Alexander-Walker (6-5, 205, Virginia Tech) is in his third NBA season, averaging 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists (all career-highs) in 26.3 minutes per contest. He’s totaled six games with 20-or-more points, two games with 30-plus points and two double-doubles during the 2021-22 season.
For his career, Alexander-Walker has played in 143 games (33 starts), all for the New Orleans Pelicans, with career averages of 9.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 20.4 minutes per game. The Toronto, Ontario, Canada-native was originally drafted in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft (17th overall) by Brooklyn (traded to New Orleans on draft night).
Hernangomez (6-9, 215, Spain) is in his sixth NBA season, appearing in 23 games in 2021-22 with Boston and San Antonio. For his career, he owns averages of 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 280 games (57 starts) with Denver (2016-20), Minnesota (2019-21), Boston and San Antonio (2021-22). He was originally drafted by Denver in the first round (15th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft).
The 26-year-old has additional professional playing experience in Spain where he began his career with Estudiantes of the ACB in 2013-14. He spent three seasons with Estudiantes (2013-16), and in his final season with the club, averaged 9.7 points on 45.5 percent from the field and 5.7 rebounds in 23.7 minutes per contest.
