Utah Jazz News, Press Releases and Analysis From SorenWinslow.com

The 2024-25 NBA season is finally upon us. The Utah Jazz are entering a pivotal year in their rebuild centered around youth. NBA.com did some digging and discovered a couple of head-scratching stats tied to the Jazz that are hard to believe at first glance. Let's look at two of the most believe-it-or-not stats tied to the Jazz's 2023-24 season that is tough to wrap your head around.

The Golden State Warriors had a well-documented interest in acquiring Lauri Markkanen before he signed a contract extension with the Utah Jazz.

Deron Williams was once among the best point guards in the NBA when he played for the Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets. The former Illinois star most recently played in the league during the 2017 season when he helped the Cleveland Cavaliers make the NBA Finals. Feb 4, 2011; Denver, CO, USA; Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams (8) takes the basketball up court after a turnover in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The Jazz defeated the Nuggets 113-106. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images On Saturday, Williams made a post to Instagram that had nearly 1,000 likes in five hours. Williams captioned his post: "Amazing to chop it up with the

With the help of a fourth quarter push, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz 126-120 in preseason play at the Frost Bank Center. The Jazz looked to in control of the contest heading into the last quarter, but the Spurs scored 38 points in last period and cruised to the victory. 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama missed the game due to rest. Williams has had problems asserting himself in Utah's offense thus far, but that wasn't the case in San Antonio.

Collin Sexton had a game-high 24 points in his most minutes of the preseason so far Saturday in San Antonio, but the uptick in usage may not have been planned coming into the game. Utah rookie Isaiah Collier was forced to exit in the first half with a right hamstring injury and did not return to the game after earning the start alongside Sexton in the backcourt. It was the second game in a row the Jazz lost a young guard to injury, with Keyonte George leaving Thursday's game in Dallas with a knee sprain. ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported the Jazz are "optimistic (the sprain) will not prevent (George) from being ready for the regular-season opener."

Reed Sheppard has played two preseason games with the Rockets, and the rookie believes those appearances have been invaluable for his development.

The Utah Jazz's second-year player out of Ohio State is making sure that defense is the focus moving forward.

The Utah Jazz managed to take care of business for the third of their six preseason games, as they took down the Dallas Mavericks in close fashion, 107-102, continuing their undefeated streak to start their preliminary set of matchups. The game was led by Lauri Markkanen for the Jazz, who posted his best scoring output of the preseason with 26 points alongside seven rebounds, while Utah also found some worthwhile production from other veterans like Jordan Clarkson (13 points, four rebounds), and John Collins (14 points, seven rebounds, four assists).

The second-year guard was helped off the court by teammates in the third quarter.

UPDATE: Klay Thompson is available. On Thursday evening, the Dallas Mavericks will play their second preseason game when they host the Utah Jazz in Texas. The five-time NBA All-Star did not play in Monday's 121-116 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

This year's batch of rookies may have yet to take the floor this season, yet mock drafts for next summer's NBA Draft continue to pile in for what looks to be an extremely appealing class in 2025-- and that means good news for the Utah Jazz. While it's the top of this year's draft that's secured notable attention around league circles, including names like Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey, there are several appealing names down the board to keep an eye on as the coming college season approaches, as one of the top names in the country could inevitably find their way to Utah next NBA offseason. The Jazz do have a chance to bottom out and secure one of those premier talents atop of the draft board, but that's not how things shook out in The Athletic's latest mock draft by Sam Vecenie. With the 6th pick, the Jazz ended up selecting Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, a 19-year-old, 6-foot-5 guard, who Vecenie notes to be a skilled guard with a "feel for the game."

To win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, you need two things: talent and opportunity. Since the Utah Jazz franchise moved to Utah, Darrell Griffith has been the only player to win the award, which happened way back in 1981. Donovan Mitchell came close in 2018, though he ultimately came up short. With a draft haul that brought the Jazz three rookies, could one of these guys end the team's forty-plus-year drought?

The USC product needs to adjust how he scores in order to be successful against bigger, stronger competition.

In recent NBA history, the Utah Jazz have been a team to consistently appear across multiple trade rumors and possibilities across the calendar, and if things hold up heading into the looming 2024-25 season, we can expect those talks to ramp up once again as we get deeper into the trade season. Hughes and Bleacher Report recently dove into some trade possibilities for the coming NBA year, sounding off on several players who could find their way on the market, along with teams that could be looking to acquire talent from opposing squads. For the Jazz, one name that stuck out as a hypothetical acquisition was Chicago Bulls guard Coby White, where Hughes noted Utah's stash of draft capital allows this front office to be ambitious and opportunistic to improve the state of the roster.

Through the first two showings of the Utah Jazz preseason, one of the most notable bright spots during the initial sample size has centered around third-year wing Johnny Juzang and his strong start on the offensive end, and while it may be early, it could be the beginning signs of the UCLA product finding his way into a notable role in the rotation for the 2024-25 campaign. The Jazz have taken the floor two times to start their action off, taking home wins against the NBL's New Zealand Breakers and the Houston Rockets and in both showings, Juzang has put up an eye-catching performance off the bench. While the initial expectation leaned upon him being an end-of-bench contributor, that can quickly change if his offensive production keeps up at this pace. The Jazz wing appeared in 20 total games and started in five last season after splitting time in the G League ranks, averaging 7.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists within just over 18 minutes a night.

The injury bug is rearing its ugly head again for Dallas Mavericks guard  Dante Exum. According to Shams Charmania of ESPN, the ex-Jazzman will miss three months after wrist surgery. Dallas Mavericks guard Dante Exum is expected to miss three months after undergoing right wrist surgery, sources tell ESPN.

John Collins has been a member of the Jazz for over a year, yet the veteran forward has been in a different role early in the preseason. The 27-year-old Collins came to the Jazz via trade and was expected to be amongst the best and most productive players on a roster in flux. After all, Collins was the second-best player on an Atlanta Hawks team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals just a few short years earlier.

The Utah Jazz have made some roster adjustments after just over a week into training camp. According to The Athletic's Tony Jones, the Jazz have opted to waive Taevion Kinsey, Isaiah Wong, and Max Abmas, per league sources. Both Kinsey and Abmas were a part of the Jazz's 2024 summer league roster, while Wong, the 55th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers, was brought onto a deal in late September to bring him aboard.

With the 2024-25 NBA season quickly approaching, it marks the annual release of the league's general manager survey. The survey effectively dishes out a handful of wide-ranging questions to various team execs concerning the state of the league, with topics surrounding award and Finals predictions for the coming year, analysis of the top players in the world, or, in this case, judging the best home-court advantages of each of the 30 squads around the NBA. It's a category we could expect the Utah Jazz to receive some deserved praise in, as they've consistently been a team that ranks in the top league attendance numbers, and have a notable reputation of having a dedicated fanbase. When stacking up the best home-court advantages in the NBA, general managers placed the Jazz as the 5th-best team in the category, the Denver Nuggets taking the number one spot with 47% of the vote.

It was a tale of two different halves for the Jazz. The Rockets took advantage of a sluggish Jazz start and jumped out to a 22-12 lead after the first quarter of play, thanks to some cold shooting from the Jazz. After a faster-paced second quarter, the Rockets appeared to be in control of the contest, but the Jazz looked like a different team in the second half. Markkanen led a balanced Jazz attack with eight third-quarter points, and the Jazz outscored the Rockets 39-22 in the third quarter to take an 88-84 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Former Utah State Aggies star Sam Merrill, now of the NBA?s Cleveland Cavaliers, was involved in an interesting trade on Monday that also included a former Utah Jazz player.

Danny Ainge was asking a lot, two first-round picks, for the Jazz big man, so a deal never got done.

Has the former KU basketball wing from Ukraine found his NBA home? He?s on a new four-year contract.

From guarding LeBron James to sizing up Cooper Flagg.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) ? With its commitment to a youth movement, the Utah Jazz are counting on Keyonte George and Taylor Hendricks to both take big strides in their second seasons this year. After playing in 75 games as a rookie, George wore down a bit at the end of the year. He?s [?]

Fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus is joined by some friends from RotoWire to make the case for nine sleepers to target in drafts.

The Congolese player shared a Dikembe Mutombo story, discussed his love of rebounding and won over everyone in the process.

Who is going to play and when? What will success look like? What's next for Lauri Markkanen? All that and more.

In a new list from The Ringer, the Jazz are grouped with teams considered "confusing, freaky, and occasionally entertaining."

For the past couple of years, the only NBA representatives Notre Dame has had are Pat Connaughton and Blake Wesley. But we now at least have the possibility that a third name will be added to that list for the 2024-25 season. Dane Goodwin, who played 14 games last?

At least one NBA writer thinks very highly of Hardy.