Johnny Juzang to miss initial Summer League practices due to car crash

According to multiple reports, former UCLA hoops star Johnny Juzang will not begin practices with the rest of the Utah Jazz Summer League team. Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune was the first to report that the Jazz PR team announced Juzang was in a car accident on Saturday and would not be with the team to start practices. Walden tweeted this report:

“Per Utah Jazz PR, Johnny Juzang was in a car accident yesterday and is not practicing with the Summer League team today as a precautionary measure.”

Hopefully nothing too serious for Juzang. The wording of the report certainly doesn’t make the accident seem serious, which is a good sign. Regardless, Juzang is sidelined to start his NBA career as he recovers.

Additional Contract Update

NBA insider Marc Stein also confirmed the report that Juzang was sitting out as a precaution to recover. He added this update on the former Kentucky and UCLA wing’s contract situation:

“Juzang will soon be formally signed by the Jazz on a two-way contract after the former UCLA star went undrafted.”

For those unaware of what exactly a two-way deal is here is the NBA’s description:

“NBA teams may have up to two players under NBA Two-Way Contracts who will spend the bulk of the season in the NBA G League and not more than 45 days with their NBA team. Two-Way players are paid a corresponding daily amount based on the number of days they play in each league. Only players in their fourth NBA season or earlier are able to sign Two-Way Contracts. They can be for either one or two seasons.”

Best wishes to Juzang on his road to recovery and the start to his NBA career. With the recent roster reshuffling from Utah, Juzang could nab minutes as a rookie on a team that just gave up two of its starters.