Utah Jazz: ranking the team among Northwest Division rivals

Last season, the Utah Jazz won the Northwest Division. This should not come as a surprise to anyone: at 52-20, the Jazz finished with the best record in the entire NBA. That’s a pretty foolproof recipe for winning your division.

With the 2021 offseason nearly in the league’s rearview mirror, it’s an appropriate time to look at how the Association is shaping up and make educated guesses about how each division will look by the end of the 2021-22 season. Of course, a great deal is still subject to change. Midseason trades, injuries or unexpected player developments all threaten to challenge these rankings.

We shall not be deterred. The division’s best point guard looks ready to stay put in the face of trade rumors, and even if that changes, it might be difficult for his team to out-tank the league’s undisputed face of tanking. Either way, the joy in prediction comes from the uncertainty of the circumstances you’re predicting.

The Northwest division may not be one that commands the lion’s share of NBA fan attention this season unless those Damian Lillard trade rumors start heating up again. In other words, it’s the perfect division for the Utah Jazz to sneak into the top of the standings in once again for the 2021-22 season.

Here is our ranking of the Northwest division ahead of the season.