The Utah Jazz are now entering the fourth season of their rebuild.

Utah was a perennial Western Conference contender for several years until they decided to trade away Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert back in 2022. The Jazz were a good team during their tenure, but never truly great. They never made it past the second round of the postseason and decided that it was time to hit the reset button.

Since then, they have done their best to boost their lottery odds. Utah was actually a good team in ‘22-’23 as Lauri Markkanen, the main piece that they received in the Mitchell trade, blossomed into an NBA All-Star in his first year with the team. They kicked off the season with a 10-3 record and even held first place in the West in November before “injuries” ultimately took their toll on the team. 

The Jazz have missed the playoffs for three seasons now and this upcoming one is likely to be the fourth. Markkanen is now 28 years old and entering the early stages of what should be his prime years as a basketball player, though given the talent surrounding him, it looks like Utah is playing for better lottery odds rather than a playoff berth this season.

Nonetheless, this should be an exciting year for Utah and the direction that this team is headed should gain some clarity as the season progresses. 

WHAT’S NEW?

After making some headlines for the wrong reasons heading into the NBA Draft, everything now seems to be in order with the Jazz and rookie Ace Bailey. The fifth overall pick is a versatile 6’10 forward who should be a perfect fit next to Markkanen and incoming fourth-year center Walker Kessler.

He is a dark horse candidate in this season’s Rookie of the Year race and if he can acclimatize himself to the NBA’s style of play right away, he might just be that one piece who can convince the team’s front office to accelerate their timeline.

BIGGEST QUESTIONS

Keyonte George will enter the season as the team’s top guard and it is time for him to prove that he can be their long term starter. George put up strong numbers in his second year, averaging 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.6 assists across 67 games. He has had some strong showing over his first two seasons, though most of those came in games that did not have much stakes.

The 21-year-old guard must prove that he can be a reliable point guard for this team and help them win some games to secure his spot in their long term plans.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Markkanen will be on a lot of radars this season, especially outside of Utah. He has been a highly coveted player over the past few years given his talents on the offensive end. The Jazz have refused to part with him though and are insistent that he is part of their long term vision.

The 7’0 remains the best player on this team by a significant margin and if he can rediscover his form from the 2023 season, it will be difficult for Utah to continue to ignore him. He is good enough to get this team to the West’s play-in by himself which is a testament to the kind of player that he has become. Markkanen is also coming off a strong offseason campaign with the Finland national team at FIBA EuroBasket where he led his team to its first ever semifinal appearance.

If the young players around him, particularly Bailey and George, can keep up, then they just might find themselves as one of the surprise teams of the West. However, if this season turns into another lottery-bound one, it will be interesting to monitor how patient Markkanen will be and if he ultimately demands a trade to a winning situation.

REASON FOR OPTIMISM/CONCERN

The Jazz have a plan.

It might not be clear to everyone at the moment, but with CEO Danny Ainge–the man whose vision helped build the 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics–leading the way, the world knows that something special is brewing in Utah.

They have a strong franchise cornerstone in Markkanen in place and complementary players such as Kessler and Kyle Filipowski are slowly improving as well. The pair of George and Bailey will be looked upon for upside as if they can blossom immediately, then this team might wind up ahead of schedule. 

If not, they still do have some flexibility to move around assets and look for that additional star that they need to pair with Markkanen–or they can trade him too if they decide that they want to start from scratch as well. The possibilities for the Jazz are endless at this point and the fact that they are spoiled for choice at this point in time is a gift in itself.