Even under the most normal of circumstances the Utah Jazz’s margin for error is incredibly small. That’s why two of the Jazz’s first three games of the season were decided in overtime. That’s why 28 of the 43 games the Jazz have played have been within five points in the final five minutes. That’s why Sunday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies makes a lot of sense.
The Jazz have a lot of weapons and they can overcome myriad different mishaps depending on the night and the circumstances. But the Jazz are not a talent-heavy team that’s built to work without its most crucial rotation pieces. So when the Jazz lost Jordan Clarkson after he was ejected because of a flagrant 2 foul and then lost Kelly Olynyk who suffered a left ankle sprain, both in the fourth quarter, they kind of had to scramble.
“There’s a lot that changes,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said of the situation. “It’s the second night of a back-to-back and we’re trying to take care of our guys, get out of here as healthy as we can … There’s always going to be moments where the team is a little bit undermanned. And sometimes you go into the game like that, sometimes it happens in the middle of the game. But it’s on all of us, the coaches and the players, to adjust and try to put our best foot forward.”
That’s going to make things really interesting for the Jazz as they navigate the rest of the season.
The Jazz have 13 games between now and the Feb. 9 trade deadline. Then another 26 games before the end of the season.
The Jazz have been fielding calls from teams all season about potential deals, but things always intensify as the deadline approaches, and what happens in the ensuing days and weeks could really impact the deals that go from being hypothetical to real.
For example, Olynyk is one of the players that has garnered interest on the trade market and one that the Jazz would be willing to deal for the right price. But Olynyk just recovered and returned from a left ankle sprain, only to then reinjure the same ankle in Sunday’s loss. If Olynyk misses significant time with the injury, that could be a factor in trade discussions. At 31 years old and in his 9th NBA season, any injury and any recurring injury is going to be a wrinkle that’s brought up in discussions.
How the team performs over the next 13 games could also have a real impact on what direction the Jazz decide to move. The Jazz are currently 20-23 on the season and are 12th in the Western Conference standings. If they go on a win streak and look like they could potentially make the playoffs, that might sway the Jazz in one direction. If they continue to find themselves in close games with the top teams in the league, that would be something for the Jazz front office to think about.
The Jazz brass has already said that they are taking the longview when it comes to roster construction, but there are definitely factors this season that have already evolved the timeline for the Jazz, like Lauri Markkanen’s emergence as an All-Star caliber player.
Once the trade deadline passes, the Jazz will have a whole new host of issues to deal with and think about. There’s no doubt that there will be some change on the Jazz’s roster and that’s going to mean some more growing pains and a new discovery period to evaluate leading up to the NBA draft and the 2023 free agency period.
Every day, every game, every transaction deserves to be looked at with the future in mind, and every result has to be dissected.
The Jazz were in a really close game with the Memphis Grizzlies, but Ja Morant wasn’t playing. That being said, the Grizzlies have won the last three games Morant hasn’t been in because of their top-ranked defense, and the Jazz scored 113 points against that defense without Clarkson and Olynyk in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz have a lot of really big decisions to make that are coming up faster than you might think, and everything that happens could be a factor in one of those decisions.