The NBA trade deadline is rapidly approaching (Feb. 18) and all is mostly quiet.

A few reasons for this: One, there isn’t an unhappy superstar who wants out (unless LeBron James decides to ship out Kevin Love).

Two, with the new TV deal the league has in place kicking in next season the salary cap will balloon to a reported $90 million, so teams aren’t needing to shed salary to get under the luxury tax line.

Three, the Eastern Conference has eight teams over .500 and another four close to .500. Most of these teams are wanting to make the playoffs. Out West only four teams aren’t aiming for the playoffs, making more teams buyers in the trade market than sellers.

If a team is going to make a move it might have to take a chance on a player with some baggage, something the Utah Jazz haven’t done. There is plenty to worry about if a team gambles on one of these players, including: How does he affect the locker room chemistry, does he rub off negatively on young, easily influenced players and can the coaching staff keep a player like this in line?

The other thing to consider is what’s required to give up in a trade for these type of players. Usually, players with questionable character come cheaper than others. If the Jazz can get a talented player on a decent contract for a low price then it might be worth the gamble.

The Jazz may want to explore this route because they don’t have much to offer in terms of trade pieces besides first-round picks and players they don’t want to part with. For a questionable player like this, the Jazz aren’t offering a first-round draft pick or one of the core players, leaving Trey Burke and Trevor Booker as the main pieces. Booker is on an expiring deal worth $5 million and hasn’t been able to shoot straight this season, averaging 44 percent from the field and 26 percent from three. Burke has one more year left on his rookie deal and is just beginning to show he is a serviceable NBA player. The Jazz could throw in Tibor Pliess or Chris Johnson to help the trade go through but they aren’t yielding anything of value. Basically, these players aren’t trade pieces that would attract someone like Hawks’ point guard Jeff Teague.

The Jazz could look to move Alec Burks even though he is injured. He is on a nice contract, and in a league that lacks depth at the wing position it might be wise to keep a talented one on a good deal.

The main guys that might be available but carry baggage are Ty Lawson of the Houston Rockets and Markieff Morris of the Phoenix Suns. Both guys haven’t been as good this season as they have in the past. But if the Jazz trade for a player with questionable character, they would have to give up a good guy. Burke and Booker are both great locker room guys and good leaders, which is necessary to keep a bad apple in line.

Lawson’s baggage starts with alcohol; this past summer he received his fourth DUI arrest. There are rumors out of Denver that he would show up to practice smelling of alcohol. In Houston, he has been a model citizen in this area. The Jazz need to feel confident that this is no longer an issue to even consider this move.

The other concern on Lawson is his attitude during his time being coached by Brian Shaw. The Nuggets for some strange reason fired George Karl after he had been named Coach of the Year, and who played a style that fit Lawson to a T. Shaw ran the triangle and had a rocky relationship with Lawson from the beginning. Lawson would show up late and a couple times skip practice altogether. The Jazz have really good locker room chemistry right now and throwing Lawson in could endanger it, especially if he isn’t happy about his role.

Lawson in Denver was a borderline All-Star, but in Houston he has been nothing but the biggest disappointment in the league. If the Jazz made a play for him, they would have to first believe that Houston is just the wrong fit. In Denver, it was the Ty Lawson show. He had the ball in his hand all the time, but in Houston where James Harden dominates (just ask Dwight Howard), Lawson has to settle for more of a spot-up shooter role. This is not one of his strengths as he has averaged just 35 percent in catch-and-shoot situations.

This could also be a problem as Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood dominate the ball, just maybe not as much as Harden does. If the Jazz did trade for Lawson then they would have to feel comfortable that coach Quin Snyder could make this all mesh better than the Houston coaches have (which already cost Kevin McHale his job).

The reason to trade for Lawson would be that he was playing at a near All-Star level before he got to Houston. In his last five seasons with Denver (minus his rookie year), Lawson averaged 15.5 points, 7.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game and was improving each year. He is also blessed with great speed which he uses to penetrate the lane to either get an easy shot for himself or get wide open looks for his teammates.

In a recent article on espn.com, Zach Lowe states, “What they do need is a much better point guard, even when [Dante] Exum returns next season. He'll be 21, coming off an ACL tear, and anyone who says they know what he is, or what he could be, is lying. The Jazz will need someone to hold the fort until Exum is ready, and that player has to be better than Trey Burke and Raul Neto.” Lawson has been good enough in the past to do this and if the Jazz can get him back to his Denver days then the gamble is worth it.

Lawson’s contract is worth $12 million a year and he has one year left on the deal. However next year is nonguaranteed so if he doesn’t work out the Jazz could always cut him but would lose the asset that they gave up for him. Also, if he comes to Utah and doesn’t improve, the Jazz just got weaker at an already weak position.

What Houston would want in return for Lawson is anyone’s guess but the Jazz shouldn’t give up a first-round pick. The Rockets love to shoot threes and have a slew of power forwards so they won’t be interested in Booker, who is shooting 26 percent from three. That leaves a Burke-for-Lawson trade with someone like Pleiss thrown in for money reasons. Houston gets a point guard who is shooting 41.5 percent in catch-and-shoot situations and who is averaging 12.3 points a game. The Jazz get a player averaging just 6.6 points a game but if — and that’s a big if — the gamble pays off, they win the trade by a landslide and give Exum someone who can “hold the fort” until he is ready.

The other player who meets this criteria is the Suns’ Markieff Morris. He is averaging 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists a game, down from last season’s 15.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists. After his first two so-so seasons in the NBA, the Suns did something very smart: they acquired his twin brother Marcus Morris. For some reason, they only play well if they play together. Being apart seems to affect them like kryptonite affects Superman.

The baggage begins when both brothers re-signed with Phoenix for a discounted price to stay together in 2014. A year into their contracts, the Suns did something dumb and traded away Marcus for cap space in an attempt to sign LaMarcus Aldridge. Where it went wrong is Aldridge decided to sign with San Antonio instead and it upset the Morris twins, especially the one they were keeping, understandably since they took less money to play together. Afterward, Markieff demanded a trade and was a no-show in Phoenix until it was mandatory for him to show up.

The Morris twins want to play together which could be a problem, especially if they can’t play well without each other. Being the knight in shining armor that rescues Markieff from Phoenix might be enough to keep him happy, even though he is playing without his twin.

The other concern is each twin has been charged with a felony (aggravated assault which may be why Phoenix traded Marcus. After learning the details of what allegedly happened, bringing someone in with a potential criminal record would be a major concern for the Jazz.

Phoenix may be willing to get rid of a cancer in their locker room and the Jazz could likely get him for cheap. The Jazz are under the salary cap enough that they could send just a second-round pick for Morris. If that isn’t enough to get Phoenix to move Morris, maybe they would swap for Burke although that would leave the Jazz very thin at point guard. The other option would be to swap power forwards. Booker is a good locker room guy and something Phoenix could use after having an unhappy Morris twin in theirs.

The other problem with trading for Morris is he plays the same position as Trey Lyles and Booker. Right now he is a better player than either of them and would get in the way of Lyles’ development. If Lyles kept improving and took minutes away from Morris, that could be a cause for him to act up again.

The main reason the Jazz would do this is because he’s on a great contract. The Jazz would have him for the next three seasons at $8 million per year and, with the cap going up, that contract will become even more valuable and easy to trade if he loses playing time.

For this trade deadline the Jazz face tough choices: to ride the ship and keep with the development program or look at a risky “skip a step” to help improve the team in the short term and, if the gamble pays off, in the long term, too.

Follow Kincade on Twitter @kincade12 or email him at kupstill12@gmail.com