With Tuesday’s season opener approaching, most NBA rosters are now finalized. The Utah Jazz completed their final cuts, and it was evident during their 4-2 preseason which players would secure spots on the 15-man roster and the three 2-way contracts. The composition of their core ten seems quite established as the games are set to begin on Wednesday.
Here are some insights regarding Utah’s roster and rotation.
Rotation Insights
Keyonte George and Collin Sexton appear set to start together, flanked by dynamic forwards Taylor Hendricks and Lauri Markkanen, with Walker Kessler taking on the center position.
Following this duo, there seems to be a clear indication of the next five players. The playing time for Cody Williams and Brice Sensabaugh has been prioritized, as they logged significantly more preseason minutes than other non-starters. Meanwhile, veterans Jordan Clarkson and John Collins averaged 16-18 minutes per game. Isaiah Collier was the backup point guard until an injury sidelined him, and Patty Mills filled in thereafter.
The second unit remains quite guard-heavy, presenting some challenges since Collins, who doesn’t typically dominate the paint, is anchoring a group with smaller players. While this might not be a major issue for a season where Utah isn’t highly concerned with their win-loss record, it is essential for lineups to function effectively to ensure that the developmental reps are meaningful. Who fits the 4 in that lineup? Williams? Sensabaugh? Perhaps Hendricks could be separated from Markkanen to create better harmony in the rotation. Or maybe Will Hardy is perfectly content as is.
There’s also concern about whether the 16-18 minutes allotted to the Clarkson duo will be sufficient for them to feel engaged — or to begin reestablishing their value within the team. They may see more playing time when the games start to count. Still, many fans will likely appreciate that they aren’t automatically assigned the 28-30 minutes they received last year.
If this indeed represents the 10-man rotation, it leaves Johnny Juzang, Kyle Filipowski, Drew Eubanks, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Mills on the outside for now. Each of these players will have their chances as the season progresses, particularly with injuries or rest days cropping up. Juzang, in particular, shows promise with his exceptional shooting (52.6% from deep during preseason). He, Filipowski, and Eubanks received the most preseason minutes, subsequent to the core rotation players.
Victory Statistics
If you are concerned about Utah potentially winning too many games again, here’s a statistic that might ease your worries. The 18 players on this year’s Jazz team generated a combined total of 19.7 estimated wins last season, based on the EPM win metrics from dunksandthrees.com. Notably, 15.7 of those wins were attributed to Markkanen and Sexton, meaning the rest of the roster contributed only four total wins to the 2023-24 season.
Excluding the marginally effective Collins and Kessler, the remaining 14 players collectively had a wins added tally of *negative* 0.8.
It’s worth noting that the rookies had no win contribution from last season, and second-year perimeter players George (-0.8) and Sensabaugh (-1.0) might not stay in the negative as they gain more experience in the NBA. Nonetheless, the key takeaway is that the Jazz possess a relatively low number of players who positively affect winning — which could be advantageous for fans primarily focused on draft prospects. Even if Markkanen and Sexton maintain their current performance levels, this is not a team at significant risk of unintentionally winning too many games.
Future Potential
That being said, the roster is unlikely to be the final version. Logically, the Jazz will likely keep their communication lines open throughout the season, especially for trades that may provide assets or allow a closer examination of promising young players.
The Jazz are poised to enter virtually any trade discussions available. With 11 to 14 first-round picks across the next seven drafts and six players still under rookie contracts, plus Filipowski and Juzang on comparably flexible deals, they possess considerable leverage. Additionally, they have a bona fide All-Star, while their second-best player is only 25 years old.
With a career average of almost 19 points per game, the team possesses several stackable contracts that could facilitate a trade. They also retain the draft rights to recent second-round picks, Gabriele Procida and Balsa Koprivica.
To create salary cap space for Lauri Markkanen’s renegotiation, they had to revoke their minor trade exceptions from last February’s transactions. Fortunately, trade regulations for teams above the cap and below the tax threshold are quite lenient. If Utah sends out up to $7,501,818 in salary, they can bring back double that amount, plus an additional $250K. If the outgoing salary is between roughly $7.5M and $30M, they can return up to an extra $7,751,818. Beyond the $30M mark, they might retrieve 125% of the outgoing salary plus $250K.
The $7.983M room midlevel exception also provides them with opportunities. This exception can be utilized to acquire salaries that fall entirely within this amount. Alternatively, it can be used to sign a free agent later, particularly if there’s someone they wish to sign who falls into the minimum-salary bracket, but for more than the two-year period permitted by the minimum exception.
Trade Mechanics
Due to the timing of Markkanen’s extension signing, he cannot be traded this season at all. However, Eubanks, Mykhailiuk, Juzang, and Mills become trade-eligible starting December 15.
These are the only current restrictions on trades.
Options & Extensions
Utah must make a formal decision by Halloween regarding the exercise of the fourth-year option on Kessler, along with the third-year options on Hendricks, George, and Sensabaugh. It’s highly probable that they will choose to exercise all four options for the 2025-26 season.
Additionally, they need to be ready to negotiate a rookie scale extension with Kessler starting next July, marking a crucial year for the young center. Hendricks, George, and Sensabaugh won’t be eligible for extensions until July 2026, while Williams and Collier will be eligible a year later.
Although Collins and Sexton are technically eligible for extensions now, this opportunity is only available until Monday (unless Collins opts out of his 2025-26 player option to facilitate an extension). It’s likely that extending Sexton will happen at some point, but there is no urgency; the Jazz is wisely focusing on maintaining flexibility right now, making premature extensions for either player before the season begins less advantageous.
Clarkson can next be extended on July 7 but will already be 35 when his current deal concludes. Mykhailiuk, Juzang, and Filipowski may be extended in August 2026, while Markkanen can be extended next on August 7, 2027. Neither Eubanks nor Mills is eligible for contract extensions, nor can the two-way players.
Roster Composition
For some time after their significant rebuilding efforts in 2022, Utah’s roster was largely shaped by those trades. However, that is no longer the case; currently, only four players on their roster originally joined the team via trade, while seven of the current Jazz players have arrived through the draft.
The Jazz at this point, not surprisingly, are a team mostly built through the draft.
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Not unexpectedly, the Jazz are predominantly a team assembled through the draft.
This is how they initially made their way to Utah. However, Markkanen, Clarkson, and Juzang are all on new contracts since being acquired, so here’s an overview of what Utah used to sign each player’s current deal.
Screenshot
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Most of Utah’s current contracts stem from draft rights or Bird rights.
Draft History
Currently, the Jazz roster includes four players who were top-10 picks: Markkanen (#7), Sexton (#8), Hendricks (#9), and Williams (#10). Additionally, five players were selected with non-lottery first-round picks: George (#16), Collins (#19), Kessler (#22), Sensabaugh (#28), and Collier (#29). Four others were picked in the second round, while only Drew Eubanks and Johnny Juzang went undrafted.
Having four top-10 picks is reasonably average. Orlando brings the highest number of former top-10 picks into the season with seven, while Miami’s sole representative is 16-year veteran Kevin Love.
Origins of the Players
Unlike some recent Jazz teams, this roster features less international talent, and most overseas players are currently assigned to the third unit. Leading the way is Finland’s Lauri Markkanen, followed by Svi Mykhailiuk from Ukraine, Patty Mills from Australia, and two-way signee Oscar Tschiebwe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Among their American players, the Jazz have three born in Georgia (Collier, Sexton, Kessler), three from Florida (Clarkson, Sensabaugh, Hendricks), and two from California (Juzang, Williams). The remainder hail from New York, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, and, of course, Utah-born Collins.
Current Player Placements
With the rosters of 29 other teams finalized, we can confirm that 20 former Jazz players will have roles as of opening night. Here’s how those 20 would appear on a depth chart:
- Rudy Gobert | Kelly Olynyk
- Bojan Bogdanovic | Georges Niang | Trey Lyles | Jarred Vanderbilt | Jeff Green
- Royce O’Neale | Simone Fontecchio | Joe Ingles | Ochai Agbaji
- Donovan Mitchell | Grayson Allen | Nickeil Alexander-Walker |
- Malik Beasley | Alec Burks
- Mike Conley | Kris Dunn | Dante Exum | Talen Horton-Tucker
This does not include Jazz legend Russell Westbrook, who had two memorable engagements with the franchise yet played a total of zero minutes. He will continue his illustrious Hall of Fame career in Denver.
During training camp, players Tony Bradley, Kenny Lofton Jr., Elijah Hughes, Kira Lewis Jr., Miye Oni, and Jared Butler were let go. Wesley Matthews, Trent Forrest, Damian Jones, Jae Crowder, Danuel House Jr., David Stockton, Udoka Azubuike, and Juan Toscano-Anderson were part of last year’s rosters but will begin the season out of the league, alongside Luka Samanic, Darius Bazley, and Omer Yurtseven, who concluded last season with Utah. Both Ricky Rubio and Gordon Hayward have since retired.
Stars-bound
Seven players passed through Utah on camp contracts only to be waived afterward. However, there is no need to feel sorry for them; it’s quite likely they were aware of how their time at fall training camp would unfold.
G League teams can claim rights to players released during their parent club’s training camp. NBA teams, along with player representatives, understand this process, which often results in agreements where the player receives a modest “exhibit 10” bonus (not impacting the salary cap) for their acceptance of being signed, waived, and eventually assigned to their parent club’s G League affiliate. This clarifies why players such as Isaiah Wong, Max Abmas, Babacar Sane, and Dane Goodwin had such brief stints. Utah was merely claiming their rights for the Stars.
The Stars hold “returning player” rights for Taevion Kinsey, Keshawn Justice, and Justin Lewis. By signing them to new camp contracts, they also secured an additional “exhibit 10” bonus to enhance their $40,500 G League salaries. Since this money does not count against the salary cap, it’s a minimal expense for maintaining continuity within the Stars roster.
Now, let us delve into the core aspects of NBA basketball.
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