Utah Jazz: Five most gut-wrenching moments of the past 365 days

No. 1 – Gordon Hayward’s Independence Day

We all had to know this one was coming, right? I completely understand that most Jazz fans have long since gotten over this fateful July 4th, thanks largely to the rise of Donovan Mitchell, but let’s not even try to act like it wasn’t an immense punch to the gut at the time.

The fact that Gordon Hayward opted to leave the Jazz in free agency was a tough enough blow in and of itself that his decision would have likely made this list no matter how it had gone down. Considering that Utah had gone so long without either an All-Star appearance or a playoff series and that Hayward had been instrumental in checking both boxes, losing him was a hard pill to swallow no matter what.

But the way he handled it all made matters a million times worse. First there was the fact that his decision to go to Boston was ‘leaked’ early in the day, only to be denied later by Hayward’s agent who stated no decision had been made. Then, finally, once the finishing touches on the blog post were done, the initial decision was confirmed later, dashing Jazz fans’ hopes a second time.

He was leaving the team. The lack of clarity in the decision-making process had made it a grueling day of refreshing Twitter and trying to find answers. Perhaps worst of all, he ruined a wonderful holiday for an entire state by declaring his own independence from the state of Utah.

OK, so that wasn’t the worst part. Rather it was the fact that by the time Hayward made his decision, the Jazz were all but handcuffed in what they could do in free agency to try to fill the void he left. Dennis Lindsey did an admirable job of patching up the holes by adding the likes of Thabo Sefolosha, Jonas Jerebko and Ekpe Udoh, but even the three of them combined couldn’t equal to Gordon Hayward.

Utah’s beloved star had left them high and dry. In the worst possible fashion. Talk about the punch to the gut of the decade for the Utah faithful.

Fortunately, though the trio of veteran free agents that Lindsey brought in couldn’t make up for the loss of Hayward, the trade to bring in a particular rookie certainly could. Donovan Mitchell has long since healed the scars of that fateful Fourth of July nearly a year ago. But the fact remains that at the time, it was the most gut-wrenching experience Jazz fans had faced in quite a while.

Luckily, an incredible close to the 2017-18 season and a bright future ahead have largely mitigated much of the pain caused by these five situations. The Jazz figure to have an exciting summer and a great year ahead in 2018-19 that hopefully will come with more successes and far less heartbreaks.

And if you’re feeling blue after taking this painful visit down memory lane, be sure to check out my J-Notes colleague Ryan Aston’s five top moments from this past season. It’s certain to make these painful memories disappear for good.