LAS VEGAS -- Bojan Bogdanovic wanted to rejoin the Indiana Pacers after he had the best two seasons of his NBA career under coach Nate McMillan.

But when the Utah Jazz came knocking at the 3:01 p.m. PT deadline on June 30, everything changed.

"I really treated Indiana like my home," he told IndyStar after he officially joined Utah on a four-year, $73 million deal that's fully guaranteed. "I spent a great two years over there. I played my best basketball there. I was with Indiana always. Then the Jazz, with the roster, was big for me.”

Utah won 50 games last season — two more than the Pacers — before exiting in the first round of the playoffs. They still have Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert but added Mike Conley via trade and Jeff Green and Ed Davis in free agency.

While the Jazz are ready to compete for the top seed in the West with the L.A. Lakers, L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets, the Pacers are in transition.

They allowed free-agent veterans Thaddeus Young and Cory Joseph to leave while Darren Collison retired.

Their best player, Victor Oladipo, is expected to be out until about December as he recovers from right knee surgery after going down Jan. 23.

That's where Bogdanovic increased his market value. As the No. 1 option for the Pacers, he set career-highs with 18 points per game on 49.7 percent overall shooting and 42.5 percent from 3 and almost doubled his previous salary of $10.5 million.

Other teams were interested, but it essentially was a two-horse race. If Nikola Mirotic hadn't decided to go back to Europe, he'd likely have been signed by the Jazz to give them a stretch option at power forward and Bogdanovic would've stayed in Indiana.

Bogdanovic appears to slot in at the 4, a position where he can be a matchup problem because of his shooting. If a team switches defensively, he's adept at posting smalls and shooting over top for Tim Duncan-like bank shots. Where he's weakest, however, is rebounding, regardless of the size of his opposition.

The Pacers opted to go younger and signed long, athletic, switchable players such as T.J. Warren (trade), Jeremy Lamb (free agent) and Malcolm Brogdon (trade).

“Victor’s injury played a role but not that much," Bogdanovic said of his decision. "Victor is a great competitor. I think he’ll be back earlier than everybody expects. Seeing that we have Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Rudy Gobert – that’s the best defensive player in the league – that was huge for me to decide.”

The Pacers' offer wasn't fully guaranteed in the final year for Bogdanovic, 30, but he insists that wasn't the linchpin.

All things being equal, what the Jazz were building made it too tempting to resist. This moment won't come again. This was his first chance at a long-term contract and given his age, it's also his last chance to maximize his earning

“It was close. Indiana really treated me well," Bogdanovic said. "The organization, the GM, the president were pretty cool with me. We had a great team. I really wanted to stay there (but) then, when I see the offer from the Jazz, and then I saw the roster and the opportunity that I would have here it was big-time for me. That’s the reason why I left.”