Former KU Jayhawks star Svi Mykhailiuk surfaces with eighth NBA team in seven seasons

Now with his eighth team in a seven-year NBA career, Svi Mykhailiuk may have finally found a place to truly call home.

Mykhailiuk, a 27-year-old shooting guard from Cherkasy, Ukraine, who played at KU from 2014 to 2018 before being selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft, on Aug. 13 signed a four-year, $15 million contract with the Utah Jazz.

The team, which is in the midst of a rebuilding process, will pay Mykhailiuk a guaranteed base salary of $3.5 million this season. According to spotrac.com, the contract is non-guaranteed for 2025–26 and 2026–27, but becomes fully guaranteed on June 30 of each year. The 2027–28 season is a club option. It becomes fully guaranteed on June 30, 2027.

“I feel like it’s been great,” Mykhailiuk, who played in 41 games for the NBA champion Boston Celtics last season, said of playing in several different cities, for the various NBA teams. He spoke on Salt Lake radio station 97.5 at last week’s Utah Jazz Media Day in Salt Lake City.

“Just coming here to Utah now and experiencing a new team, I feel it’s a way younger team than I’ve ever been on before. I feel it will be an exciting experiment and we’ll see where it goes.”

The Jazz, who signed forward Lauri Markkanen to a four-year, $196 million contract extension, return six players from last year’s 10-player rotation.

SLCdunk.com’s Clint Nielson projects Mykhailiuk as someone in the 2024-25 mix for playing time. Projected starters are Keyonte George, Collin Sexton, Johnny Juzang, Walker Kessler and Markkanen.

The five to come off the bench and play meaningful minutes are projected to be Mykhailiuk, Jordan Clarkson, Cody Williams, Taylor Hendricks and John Collins. The players have work to do after going 31-51 a year ago.

“Svi has not consistently put it together yet, but his shooting and athletic ability make him worth the investment. I predict the Jazz give him a real shot to prove himself from day 1,” Nielson wrote of Mykhailiuk, who is a career 36.3% shooter from 3. He averaged 4.0 points on 38.9% 3-point shooting while playing 10.1 minutes a game a year ago for the Celtics.

“I’ve been on a lot of teams where my role was shoot the ball,” Mykhailiuk said at Media Day. “It’s been my strong side, stretch the floor, be a great teammate, work hard, make smart decisions, just be the best version of myself.”

Mykhailiuk said the Jazz “have a lot of young guys. I feel all of them have potential to be really good players. Me coming in here, I’ve been on a lot of teams. I’m bringing experience from every team I’ve been to. I’m here to help them grow and show them what you are supposed to do, how you are supposed to do it the right way. It’s been a great experience so far. It’s like I understand where we are going.”

Mykhailiuk last postseason became the 16th former KU player to win an NBA title.

“I was lucky enough to be in the right time in the right place,” Mykhailiuk said. “Basketball-wise I would say I learned what it takes to get it (a title) and what it takes to be a great team. I feel last year everybody knew their role. I’m not just talking players but the whole organization. Everybody had the same mindset. Nobody was doing anything that would hurt themselves or hurt the team. We had the standard and we were sticking to it.”

Mykhailiuk signed a one-year deal with Boston shortly before the start of 2023-24 training camp after seriously considering ending his NBA career by heading to Europe to play for Panathinaikos of the Greek League. Instead, he went with a late offer from the Celtics and now has been rewarded with his multi-year deal with Utah.

“I feel it was an easy decision for me,” Mykhailiuk said. “I feel like it’s a really good opportunity and great organization. Salt Lake City is pretty chill, surprisingly very good weather. Very chill city, not big, which I like. I don’t really like huge cities. Everything is pretty convenient here.”

The Jazz opened the 2024-25 preseason schedule Friday by beating the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League 116-87 in Salt Lake. Mykhailiuk did not play in the game via coach’s decision.

Markkanen scored 13 points in 15 minutes. George had 12 points in 22 minutes. Juzang had a team high 19 points on nine shots in 18 minutes.