Two new teams have popped up in a bit of offseason trade buzz surrounding Utah Jazz guards Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton.

According to NBA insider Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks have been among those linked to a trade for Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson.

“Austin Ainge, the new president of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz, is open to all trade offers coming his way,” Siegel wrote. “The Jazz want to find a way to instantly improve entering the 2025-26 season, and Ainge is motivated to make this happen. Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson are once again on the trade block alongside Collins. Teams like the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings, who need backcourt help this offseason, have been named potential landing spots for both guards.”

Two teams on that Western Conference postseason bubble who could utilize an upgrade in the backcourt, it makes sense as to why both the Kings and Mavericks could be ones to take interest in the pair of Jazz veterans.

Sexton’s name was also just recently in a previous rumor from The Salt Lake Tribune’s Andy Larsen linking him as a potential fit for the Mavericks as a fill-in for Kyrie Irving amid his ACL tear this coming season, so yet another tie Dallas might add a bit more fuel to that trade fire. The Kings, however, find themselves as a new entry into the fray.

Both guards come off limited sample sizes during their 2024-25 season with the Jazz, but still proved to be effective contributors in the backcourt when healthy. Sexton started for Utah across 61 games and played in 63 to average 18.4 points and 4.2 assists on 48.0% shooting from the field, while Clarkson played in 37 games mainly as a bench spark plug scorer, averaging 16.2 points a night at a 40.8% clip.

For a bit of time now, the Jazz have been connected to a potential trade surrounding both guards, but have seemingly yet to get a deal to come their way worth accepting for either, who now each sit on expiring contracts heading into next season. Perhaps this summer could be the time when a deal could be hashed out if a team like Dallas or Sacramento has an interest in doing so.

It’s far from a guarantee that either Clarkson or Sexton will be shipped out of Utah this offseason, but if they are, keep an eye on both aforementioned teams as a potential destination for their services.

More Utah Jazz Content

SALT LAKE CITY — The digital divide still exists in Utah, with 43,500 homes and businesses currently without the availability of reliable broadband internet.

To help close this gap and provide more Utahns with affordable, fast internet access, the Utah Legislature in 2021 created the Utah Broadband Center, along with the Digital Connectivity Plan.

Central to this plan are two separate avenues of federal funding.

The biggest was through the Biden administration’s “Internet for All” initiative, which allocated $317 million to the Beehive State to expand broadband infrastructure in underserved counties by way of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The second avenue, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, granted Utah $7.8 million to go toward accessibility improvements.

However, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration released restructuring plans for the BEAD program last week. The plans will require states to reapply for federal funding under a new set of criteria, setting back many internet service providers that previously applied to implement fiber-optic solutions.

The plan cited “superfluous requirements imposed by the Biden administration (that) made the BEAD program more complex and expensive, stifled competition and led to reduced participation levels.”

“There were some changes we anticipated with the new administration. We were not told to stop; in fact, we were encouraged to keep moving forward,” said Rebecca Dilg, director of the Utah Broadband Center, while speaking to members of the Utah Legislature’s Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Interim Committee on Wednesday.

As for the $7.8 million?

“The funding was pulled. So, the $7.8 million that was allocated to the state of Utah is gone. We do not have that at all,” Dilg said. “We were paying for a couple of people to administer this grant program, and we were excited about the opportunities that were going into the rural areas and serving many communities with this funding.”

Dilg said the state has a 90-day window that started on June 6 to rerun the grant round, calling it a “very, very, very short timeline.” She added that the Utah Broadband Center is already in the process of reapplying for funds.

“We’re just … picking up locations that were not chosen in the first round (of funding), and then those that did apply in the first round, they will just need to resubmit,” Dilg said.

Additionally, June 2024 marked the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program due to a lack of additional funding from Congress. The $14.2 billion program provided eligible households with a monthly discount of up to $30 — including up to $75 per month for households on qualifying tribal lands — and a one-time, $100 discount on the purchase of a laptop, desktop computer or tablet.

Over 75,000 households in Utah benefited from the program, and the state received over $40 million in funding for it. Throughout the program’s duration, Utahns saved around $2.2 million every month on internet bills.

To further emphasize the importance of getting more Utahns connected with internet, Dilg talked about an experience she had several months ago helping a homeless woman trying to access housing services.

When Dilg tried to make contact with one of these services via phone, she was directed to go online. “I thought, ‘This is a homeless person, and we’re directing them to go online?’” Dilg said. “That’s just the mentality we have everywhere in society, and when people don’t know how to use it, we’re leaving them behind — and that’s what’s know as the digital divide.”

Bearly a scratch.

A Utah construction worker survived an attack from a massive, “son of a bitch” black bear who snuck up on him while at a popular campsite, according to a report.

Nate Peterson, 43, was part of a four-person crew working in a cabin in Bryce Woodlands, Utah, when the 300-pound behemoth bruin pinned him on a cot, KTSU reported.

“Crazy bear. I was just sitting there minding my own business,” Peterson told the outlet from a Sevier Valley Hospital room. “But this son of a bitch just kept chasing us down.”

“Bear walked up and hit the side of my bed. Then he came over and jumped on my bed… And then he jumped down and bit my arm and I went to screaming and threw him off and started throwing stuff at him,” Peterson recounted.

“It’s a whole other experience. It’s nothing like getting bit by a dog or getting sewn off of a horse or anything.”

The 43-year-old said the bear was undeterred by the desperate defensive measures and proceeded to stalk the construction worker — who said he’s had encounters with docile black bears before.

“Three times,” Peterson said. “They just walked up, looked and turned around and walked off. Usually they get a whiff of you and they leave.”

Peterson escaped the would-be maneater and called his wife on the way to the hospital, he told the outlet.

“I thought he was joking,” Anna Peterson told the outlet, adding that she then rushed to meet him at the hospital.

Wildlife officials tracked down the belligerent bear and euthanized him on Wednesday, according to the report.

The grizzled survivor offered one piece of advice to those taking on a bear: “Don’t give up. Just fight.”