The Utah Jazz have two rising stars at the point guard position in Isaiah Collier and Keyonte George. It's a luxury most teams could only dream of, as few have even one player who's 22 or younger and already looking like a star at any position, let alone point guard.
The question facing the Jazz that could turn a luxury into an issue, however, is simple: Can Collier and George realistically coexist in the backcourt?
George, 22, has been sensational turning his third NBA season, earning praise as an arguable All-Star snub. He's averaging 24.0 points, 6.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 2.5 three-point field goals made on .460/.376/.889 shooting.
George is on pace to become the first Jazz player to average at least 20.0 points and 6.0 assists per game since Deron Williams in 2010-11 and Pete Maravich in 1977-78.
Collier, 21, has made waves of his own during his second NBA season. He's proving to be one of the best passers in the Association, averaging 11.4 points, 7.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in just 25.4 minutes per game, shooting at a clip of .505/.278/.719.
More importantly, Collier is looking like a star on a regular basis when George isn't in the lineup. One can't help but wonder if the same can be said if the two ultimately start alongside one another.
Can Isaiah Collier and Keyonte George share a backcourt for the Jazz?
Collier has created the issue at hand by thriving when George isn't playing. In Utah's most recent game, for instance, he went off to the tune of 27 points and 11 assists on 11-of-18 shooting. It was a continuation of a steady trend of star-caliber play without his fellow rising star.
In the 12 games Collier has played without George in 2025-26, he's averaged 18.0 points and 9.8 assists per game—numbers that only Cade Cunningham and Nikola Jokic are actively producing as season averages.
With this in mind, Utah should at least consider figuring out how to play Collier alongside George. They both excel with the ball in their hands, but perhaps there's a way to create an ideal balance between them and thus bring the best out of the Jazz at large.
It simply must be noted that the experiment with playing the two 6'4" point guards together hasn't exactly yielded the type of results Jazz fans might hope for up to this point in time.
Isaiah Collier plays like a star when Keyonte George isn't active
The early return on the Collier and George backcourt partnership has been historically poor. Across 1,169 possessions, the Jazz rank in the 1st percentile in net rating at -21.8 when their rising stars are on the court together in 2025-26, per Cleaning the Glass.
That seems to slam the door shut on this experiment, but it must be noted that Utah's priority isn't believed to be winning games at this stage. Furthermore, they're both still young and inexperienced.
It's also worth noting that Collier has actually seen significant improvements to his individual performance when he plays with George. Though he's shooting 27.8 percent from beyond the arc on the season, he's converting 39.1 percent of his attempts from distance when George is on the court, per databallr.
With conflicting data in regard to the viability of their backcourt partnership, however, it's entirely possible that Collier is forcing the Jazz into an early split they would likely prefer to avoid.