Utah Jazz: Injured Joe Johnson to miss at least two more weeks

The Utah Jazz injury woes just seem to continue piling up as the already injured Joe Johnson will reportedly miss at least another two weeks.

Remember after the conclusion of last season when we said, “Well, there’s no way the Utah Jazz can continue to have THAT bad of injury luck!”? Well, as fortune would have it, so far it appears that this year’s edition of the Jazz is looking to at least keep up with the injuries that last year’s produced as even after just 14 games, this Utah team has already been very much plagued by an onslaught of health woes.

First it was Dante Exum who was essentially tackled by a leaping T.J. Warren in a preseason game against the Phoenix Suns which caused the Jazz guard to fall on his shoulder and suffer a severe injury requiring surgery. There’s still no telling whether or not he’ll be back this season, but in many ways it seems like a long shot.

Then there were the Rodney Hood woes, beginning with gastric distress followed up by a left calf strain that caused him to miss some time. Although neither issue was all that serious or kept him out that long, it was still infuriating to see the oft-injured Jazzman once again sidelined with injury immediately into the season.

After that, the Jazz received news that Joe Johnson would miss at least two weeks with tendon instability in his wrist. This was an unfortunate blow for the Jazz, but given the fact that Johnson struggled mightily to find his shot during the course of his first seven games, shooting 39.1 percent from the field and an abysmal 11.8 percent from deep on 2.4 attempts per game, it was quite clear that he was off and perfectly understandable that he take some time to mend.

Not only that, but two weeks wasn’t all that long to be out and given Utah’s home-heavy schedule, it seemed like a rather easy storm to weather at the time.

However, then the worst injury news to date broke. After the Miami Heat’s Dion Waiters recklessly dove at Rudy Gobert’s legs during a scramble for a loose ball, the Jazz star went down and left the game after the awkward collision. He returned to action later in that contest that would eventually turn into a Jazz loss. He then sat out Utah’s recent game against the Brooklyn Nets and it was subsequently announced that he would miss four to six weeks with a bone bruise in his knee.

Considering that news as well as how atrocious the Jazz offense has been during the last several games, it had become clear that the team needed Joe Johnson back in a major way. And, fortunately, it appeared that his initial two-week time frame for evaluation would likely line up perfectly with when the Jazz needed him most as it would put him back in action during the same week that Gobert went out.

But shouldn’t we know by now, that the Jazz’s luck never quite works out that way?

As it was announced on Tuesday, it turns out that Joe Johnson will be held out for at least another two weeks due to the same wrist issue. Per a recent Deseret News article by Eric Woodyard, Johnson has consulted with a hand specialist and is showing progress, but is still unprepared to make his return to action. Johnson also commented that the rehab process is going well, but that he is unable to shoot or dribble with the injured wrist.

That’s obviously not exactly a recipe success for the man known as Iso Joe. And it’s awful news for his Utah Jazz team that has struggled immensely, particularly on the offensive end of the court, in recent bouts. The Jazz could certainly use his shot-creating ability, deep-ball accuracy and clutch offensive talent as they’ve been unable to find any sort of rhythm on that end of the court.

But, alas, the injury bug continues to mercilessly wreak havoc on the Jazz, so they’ll be without their storied sixth man for at least another two weeks until he’s reevaluated once again. Hopefully by that point he’ll be completely healed and ready to contribute at the high level he’s capable of because his team desperately needs his help.

Next: Utah Jazz at New York Knicks: Keys to breaking the road curse

Utah begins a four-game road trip on Wednesday against the New York Knicks and may be hard-pressed to earn many victories at all without the likes of Rudy Gobert and Joe Johnson. If Iso Joe is able to stick to the timeline of two weeks, he would be back for a key divisional match-up between the Jazz and Denver Nuggets on November 28th.

Whether that ends up being precisely the case or not, for the sake of Utah’s record and playoff chances, they’ll need to have him back in action close to that point as they are in for a brutal schedule in the month of December, during which time Rudy Gobert will be missing at least half of the games. Joe Johnson was a crucial part of Utah’s success last season and they’ll need him back and at full strength soon if they’re to turn around their latest slump.