The Utah Jazz had strong interest in Kristaps Porzingis before he was traded by the Washington Wizards to the Boston Celtics.

The Jazz were preparing an offer to Porzingis that would have been greater than what the Celtics can offer in the form of an extension.

The Jazz also expressed interest in participating in the three-team trade that sent Porzingis to the Celtics and Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Sources tell Marc Stein of Substack that Porzingis preferred to end up with the Celtics over the Jazz, which led him to picking up his $36 million player option to facilitate the trade.

Porzingis had until midnight last Wednesday on picking up his option, which he was not interested in extending.