Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 12:05am

AL JEFFERSON TO THE JAZZ

The Utah Jazz acquired center Al Jefferson from the Minnesota Timberwolves for a trade exception, center Kosta Koufos, and two future first-round draft picks.

What does it give the Utah Jazz
Jefferson essentially takes the place of Carlos Boozer, who recently signed with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. Younger and bigger than Boozer (if not quite as polished), Jefferson is a better fit at center than Boozer was (when Boozer had to fill in for Mehmet Okur) and lets young Paul Millsap start at power forward. This move shifts Okur to the bench, but that may be ideal for him (since he's aging and coming off a significant Achilles injury). Jefferson is an elite post player and, while he brings some injury risk of his own, is a real coup here for a Utah team that's still contending.

What does it give the Minnesota Timberwolves
This move does several things for the T-Wolves, the biggest of which is it gives them a roughly $13 Million trade exception (the one Utah got from Chicago in their trade of Boozer). That means Minny basically dumps $13 Million in salary without having to replace it on their roster (which is usually the case in NBA trades), and they were a good fit for this deal since Jefferson makes roughly the same $13 Million Boozer makes. Meanwhile, the deal opens up playing time at power forward for the much-less-expensive and recently-acquired Michael Beasley, who replaces Jefferson. The two future first-rounders aren't great (in that they're conditional/protected), but Koufos is still a solid prospect who may eventually be a steady NBA center.

Fantasy impact