As the trade deadline approaches, executives across the league are using the same word to describe the market: "clogged." As in: clogged with available players no one wants for the desired price, and clogged with bloated long-term salaries -- stinky leftovers from the 2016 cap spike -- no one wants at (almost) any price.
Derrick Favors is a useful bellwether. He is a good player on an expiring $12 million contract, and very much on the market, according to several league sources and prior reports. In past financial crunches, a team in Utah's situation could have extracted a ton of value by peddling a decent-sized expiring contract.