It won't be too long before the Utah Jazz start training camp. Everyone's excited to see who among the Jazz's youth movement will explode this coming season and whether or not Lauri Markkanen will look like his old self again. However, because of the Jazz's youth, one also has to wonder about the other veterans and their long-term future on the roster.
ESPN's Zack Kram brought this up when discussing the subject of statistics that could swing every NBA team's season. Kram introduced the subject by writing the following: "Here is one defining number that explains each team's position as the 2025-26 season approaches, and what key factors might determine their outcomes over the next 10 months," Kram wrote.
When it came to the Jazz, Kram's number for them was 23, and yes, it has to do with their youth movement. Kram explained why 23 came to mind for him.
"Out of 11 Utah players who reached 800 minutes this past season, only four were older than 23 years old -- and they dumped three of them (Collin Sexton, John Collins and Jordan Clarkson) in the offseason. Only Lauri Markkanen, now 28 years old, remains from Utah's small veteran contingent," Kram wrote.
Kram then brought up their other veterans on the roster and how their youth movement could affect their minute load.
"While it remains to be seen how much the likes of Jusuf Nurkic, Georges Niang, Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson play for Utah this season, after they arrived in offseason trades, it seems more likely that Utah will give even more playing time to youngsters in 2025-26."
This all points to the question of how long will any of these veterans be on the roster?
Predicting who will stay and who will go
All Clash references aside, it is worth asking who will be on the Jazz roster past this season, or even if they will be on the team this season. Let's start with the most obvious.
Kevin Love: Yeah, he's not even staying for opening night two months from now. We don't have to elaborate here, but you can read more here.
Georges Niang: It's already been confirmed that Utah plans to keep him for this season. As for beyond that, there isn't much hurt in keeping him. Niang is a good veteran presence and is an expert three-point marksman. He could also be useful when Utah starts trying again.
Jusuf Nurkic: This is really interesting because, on the one hand, Nurkic is declining, so from that standpoint, there's not much point in keeping him. On the other hand, he's bad enough that Utah can keep him as their backup until he can't do that anymore.
Kyle Anderson: It's really hard to get a read on what Utah plans to do with him. He's a solid player on a team-friendly deal that probably is better on a playoff team like Love. It really could go either way, but no matter what they do with Anderson, it won't hurt them.