It was a sight to behold.
Jaren Jackson Jr. in a beautiful purple jersey with”Utah” written out diagonally over a gradient mountain on his chest with a baby blue trim on the edges.
Quadruple J — Jazz Jaren Jackson Jr. — had finally arrived.
For days, fans across the NBA anxiously awaited to see how the Jazz’s big man lineup of Lauri Markkanen at the three, Jackson at the four and Jusuf Nurkic (next year this spot will be filled by Walker Kessler) would play together. Regardless of if you think it would work or not, if you like basketball you were at least curious to see how this lineup meshed.
And boy, did it mesh.
At one point late in the third quarter on Saturday, the Jazz led the Orlando Magic by 17 points. Jackson and Markkanen were incredibly efficient, scoring 49 points on 55.3% field goal shooting. There was even an awesome dribble-handoff action from Jackson that set up perfectly for a Markkanen 3-pointer. Just off of the starting lineup’s size alone, the on and off-ball screens set up so many great looks for Utah. More so than usual.
Utah also dominated the team rebounding battle, in large part to Nurkic’s 14 boards, which calmed any anxieties about Jackson’s rebounding abilities — or lack thereof.
The trade was a success! This team is good!
A little too good.
In the fourth quarter, “Tank Note” took over. Head coach Will Hardy — and likely Danny Ainge and Ryan Smith — had seen enough of this new look team. Hardy yanked Jackson, Markkanen and Nurkic in the fourth quarter. With Keyonte George going out earlier in the game with an ankle injury, the Jazz managed to only play one starter in the fourth quarter, rookie Ace Bailey.
The Jazz lost the game 120-117. Just how they drew it up.
Is it ethical? Maybe not. Is it necessary? Absolutely.
In 2021 and 2022, the Jazz learned a hard lesson: you have to have a top-five player to win an NBA Championship.
Take a look at the NBA champions since 2015. The list of best players goes as follows: Steph Curry, LeBron James, Curry/Durant, Curry/Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Curry, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum, SGA.
The only player on that list that is not definitive top-five is Tatum, and when healthy, he is no lower than seven in my mind. He also had an elite cast surrounding him, more so than Jokic’s in the year prior.
You can point to the 2024-25 Pacers as a team that doesn’t fit this mold, but by all means, they are an outlier. I’d rather have Jokic than try to find the perfect blend of 11 players, like the Pacers impressively did last season.
The entire point of the rebuild is to find that guy. A guy who can play on the same court as SGA or Luka Doncic or Victor Wembnyama, and have just as much claim to the NBA throne as they do. The easiest way to do that is to draft inside the top-five. You can’t do that if you give up your top-eight protected pick to the reigning champions.
Yes, this Jazz team is exciting. I get chills just thinking about the 2026-27 season. But imagine this team with Darryn Peterson or AJ Dybantsa. Doesn’t that excitement go up a level?
The Jazz are getting a lot of hate right now for their decision to not play their best players in the fourth quarter against Orlando, but a lot of that is coming from teams that are doing the same thing as Utah.
Washington traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis midseason, and the two will likely not suit up in red white and blue any time soon. The Mavericks deliberately tanked after the whole Luke trade debacle just so they could get into the lottery last season, and somehow the Basketball Gods rewarded them with Cooper Flagg.
The Quad-J — I’m really hoping there’s something there with that nickname — era has gotten off to a fun start already, but there is still more to accomplish. More pieces to add.
The end of the tank is near, but make no mistake, it is still very much alive. It has to be.
