SALT LAKE CITY — Jabari Parker, the former superstar high school recruit who once considered committing to BYU for what ended up being his short college basketball career, is having a miserable start to his tenure with the Chicago Bulls.

Parker signed a two-year $40 million deal with Chicago, his hometown team after the Milwaukee Bucks failed to commit financially to the former No. 2 overall pick.

Parker signed with a rebuilding Bulls team, looking to add star power to a solid but young, albeit unproven, core. With year two of Parker’s contract being a team option and fully nonguaranteed, the Bulls were willing to take a risk on Parker who has suffered two ACL injuries in his first four seasons in the NBA.

Through 30 games, it’s been nothing short of a disaster. Parker was a bench player through the first seven games of the season, before moving in the starting lineup due to an injury-depleted Bulls roster. Parker blamed his own poor defensive performance on then-Bulls assistant, now acting head coach Jim Boylen. Parker has since been moved back to the bench, and now entirely out of the rotation, as he recorded a 'Did not play — Coach's Decision' Saturday in a Bulls win at San Antonio.

Last week, ESPN’s Malika Andrews reported Parker had fallen out of favor in the rotation, while Parker’s agent Mark Bartelstein said teams have contacted the Bulls regarding Parker’s availability.

Monday, Kevin O'Connor of "The Ringer" reported that the Jazz were one of the teams that had inquired about Parker’s availability.

"Parker’s value has diminished, but the Jazz are desperate for offense," O’Connor said of Parker’s fit. "They rank 23rd in offensive rating this season and last in offensive rating in the fourth quarter. Parker doesn’t care about playing defense, but the rest of the team does; if they can help him get stops, maybe he can help them buy a bucket.”

The Jazz had contemplated signing Parker this past offseason before bringing back Derrick Favors and Dante Exum. Parker would conceivably fill the role of the playmaking power forward that the Jazz have long sought to play alongside Rudy Gobert, and, with a short-term contract, it wouldn’t be an enormous gamble for the team.

The hard part becomes which pieces the Jazz would move to acquire Parker and how he’d actually fit on this roster.

First, how could the Jazz construct a trade?

The good news is Dennis Lindsey and the Jazz front office designed this season's roster to have several expiring contracts either come off the books in the summer of 2019 or to be moved in deals like this one for Parker. Derrick Favors, Ricky Rubio, Thabo Sefolosha, Kyle Korver, Ekpe Udoh, Georges Niang, and Royce O’Neale are either expiring or have team options.

In total, the salaries add up to roughly $50 million, with the contracts varying from Favors' deal at $16.9 million to O’Neale at $1.4 million. Should the Jazz target one specific player or multiple players from an opposing team, odds are they will be able to find the right combination to make a deal work, as long as the Jazz find the returning value equal or greater to what they are sending out.

In the case of Parker, the Jazz could send out Favors, Udoh and Niang in return for Parker, or combine Favors and Sefolosha in return for Parker. And that’s using only expiring contracts — the variations grow exponentially if the Jazz were willing to add players under longer contracts to the mix. Essentially, finding the pieces to match Parker’s $20 million salary wouldn’t be much of an obstacle.

How Parker fits the team may be a bigger problem

Ideally, Parker would regain the promise he showed in his one season at Duke, flashing an incredible combination of size and athleticism, mixed with a soft shooting touch. I made a case for the Jazz acquiring Parker last year.

Realistically, Parker hasn’t been that player since he left the Blue Devils. His rookie season was cut short by injuries (he appeared in just 25 games), and his second season served mostly as a rehabilitation year.

His third season was his most promising, averaging 20 points per game, shooting a respectable 49 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the 3-point line. Once again, Parker played in just 51 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Parker’s fourth season with Milwaukee was again a rehabilitation effort, where he served mostly as a bench player before leaving for Chicago.

Parker’s defense has been porous since he entered the league, leaving a burden for the rest of the team to cover his shortcomings. Additionally, the shooting prowess he showed at Duke has rarely been seen in the NBA. Parker was a 35 percent 3-point shooter in college, adequate for a modern NBA power forward.

Through five seasons and 313 career games, Parker is completing just 33 percent of his attempts from beyond the arch. That’s lower than current Jazzman Jae Crowder, who averages 34 percent for his career, and has left the Jazz wanting a more reliable shooter. But Parker simply doesn’t provide it.

With Parker’s injury history and heavy frame, it's difficult to project a long-term healthy diagnosis or sustained athleticism. Bizarrely, as opposed to his professional demeanor off the floor, Parker appears to have issues getting along with his teammates and coaches, as he was reportedly jealous of the rising star of teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Could Parker find comfort as a secondary option to the younger Donovan Mitchell?

Ideally, the fit for Parker on and off the floor is intriguing. With Parker being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he may find Utah a more comfortable fit than other NBA players have historically. And if he could regain his prior stature as a modern playmaking four, he would fit perfectly between Mitchell and Gobert, spreading the floor and attacking the rim in transition. However, he’s struggled to play second fiddle in previous stops and couldn’t fit in while playing in front of his hometown in Chicago.

Parker could still be a future option for the Jazz, but currently, the pieces they would have to give up to acquire him may be better used in their current roles within the Jazz rotation, and as movable assets before the Feb. 7 trade deadline.

Should the Jazz feel Parker is an ideal fit, they can chase him this summer in free agency where he should come at a discounted price from the team option of the $20 million they’d pay to retain him. Ben Anderson is a contributor at KSL.com, follow him on Twitter @BensHoops. Listen to him 2-6, Monday through Friday with Kyle Gunther on ESPN 700.

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