Under the best circumstances, even a good team would have had a difficult time playing the Clippers twice and the Lakers twice in a span of five days.
In the case of the Jazz’s loss to the Lakers last Monday, the building was raucous and the excitement over Luka Dončić‘s Lakers debut was likely enough to propel the home team to victory no matter what.
Even so, the Utah Jazz’s 1-3 record in the days leading up to the All-Star break punctuated what has been percolating and slowly becoming clear and obvious — the Jazz are much further from being a good team than many might have hoped, and their young players are not showing the kind of promise that bodes well for the future.
There have been times throughout the 2024-25 season, including a win over the Lakers on Tuesday, when the Utah Jazz have surprised, have played above their potential, beyond their record, and the development of the young players has seemed promising. But those moments have been few and far between, and what has stood out more often than not is the Jazz’s lack of players who can help them succeed long term.
To be clear, Lauri Markkanen is a great player who has grown and improved during his time with the Jazz and will be a great foundational piece if the Jazz choose to keep him for the years to come. This goes for Walker Kessler as well, who is having a great third season after a bit of a sophomore slump.
Though John Collins has also been good for the Jazz this season, the Jazz have tested the trade market on Collins as well as Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton. Of those three players, the only one who seems likely to have a future with the Jazz is Sexton.
From there, the Jazz have been trying to maximize the potential and development of Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski and Cody Williams.
The jury is still out on Filipowski, Williams and even second-year forward Taylor Hendricks, who suffered a broken leg in the third game of the season and won’t return until the 2025-26 campaign begins.
But, for George, Sensabaugh and Collier, things have been looking a bit bleak. George, who is statistically one of the very worst defenders in the NBA, lost his starting job to a rookie point guard who is barely shooting above 20% from 3-point range, and that rookie point guard, Collier, while having flashed an ability to be a strong playmaker, has lacked the size and talent to make a meaningful mark outside of his passing.
Sensabaugh, along with George and Collier, have without a doubt shown improvement in their time with the Jazz. But even the improved versions of these players has been lackluster, leaving fans looking around the league at players that were selected after them in the draft but are soaring above them in development and success.
At some point the Jazz are going to want to be able to compete against the better teams in the league (teams far better than the Lakers and Clippers) with some regularity and the hope is that they find some young players, ideally through the draft, who can help them in that charge.
But right now, the Jazz don’t have a single player on their regular roster that can guard Kawhi Leonard, or James Harden, or LeBron James, or Luka Dončić. Sure, those are some of the best players in the world and not many defenders can slow them down. But, the Jazz don’t even have defenders reliable enough to slow down Austin Reaves or Norman Powell on a regular basis.
Currently, the Jazz’s best perimeter defender might be two-way contract player Elijah Harkless. That both speaks highly of Harkless and speaks to the dearth of defensive talent on the rest of the roster.
Defense has been the Jazz’s biggest problem for a while. Kessler has been solid and is continuously gaining strength and raising his skill level on that end of the floor, but he can’t be relied upon to guard every player who torches the Jazz perimeter.
Offensively, it’s great to have nights when the Jazz’s young players score in double digits or even score more than 20 points, but we have to be honest about how they’re being guarded by opponents. Teams do not take the Jazz seriously and if they were really keying in on the Jazz’s younger players, they would be having an even harder time than they are right now.
Again, this is not about losses during the 2024-25 season, which as we know is not being played with wins in mind. This isn’t even necessarily about the 2025-26 season. But beyond that, the Jazz are going to need players who can be trusted to guard the better players of the league and hold their own when the Jazz want to start competing in a real way.
As said above, the jury is still out on a few of the Jazz’s youngsters, but the reason the jury is out on Filipowski, Williams and Hendricks is because there’s not enough of a sample size to know who they are, and that’s because they have either been sidelined or not earned minutes. And if they aren’t earning minutes on the court, then the Jazz coaching staff is clearly not trusting them yet.
The Jazz aren’t currently in a rush to make sweeping decisions about players’ futures, and it’s a good thing they don’t need to flip the switch quickly, because it certainly seems that they don’t have the players to do it.
