The Utah Jazz lost their 16th game against the Los Angeles Lakers on a rather confusing note. Much is going to be made about how Will Hardy blew that game by calling a timeout just miliseconds before Collin Sexton scored the go-ahead basket.
At the same time, one can't help but wonder if Anthony Davis would have sent that back if he hadn't heard the whistle first.
WOOOOOOOW, Will Hardy calls a timeout, right as Sexton scores a bucket for the Jazz to give them the lead with 1 second left.
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) December 2, 2024
Sexton face says it all. pic.twitter.com/vfPkGUeQpG
Oh well. The bottom line is that the Jazz competed against a team that has playoff aspirations and lost anyway. They continue to have their cake and eat it this season.
Besides, there's a much more positive takeaway in matchups like this one, even if they end up in defeat anyway.
The Jazz are in a better place long-term than the Lakers
For the Jazz, it might suck to watch them lose game after game, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. They'll get a high pick, and they have the assets to improve so much from here. There's a lot to like about their long-term future. Especially so when comparing it to the Lakers.
They won tonight primarily because LeBron James and Anthony Davis were amazing, as they always are. That's what it takes for the Lakers to even compete in this day and age, and it was just barely enough to beat one of the worst teams in the league. Not to mention it all came down to a brain fart by Hardy for them to pull it out.
The Lakers will probably(?) make the playoffs this season, but they're not contenders. Worse, they don't have clear avenues to improve their current standing. They can take solace in knowing how good Dalton Knecht has been this season, but there isn't really much going on for them besides that.
Looking at them now, this is the Lakers in their final form. There is no next level for them. They're already prepping for their next era of basketball. If they were trying to salvage what's left of this era, they would have tried harder to get Walker Kessler while they had the chance, but they didn't, and now this is it for them.
The Jazz are playing inspired basketball even while they're losing games. They know things will get better. The Lakers can play as hard as they want, but they're not going to get any better. At this point, they're delaying the inevitable.
Oh, and if that's not enough good news, the Jazz own the Lakers pick in 2027. That alone shows how much different their futures are in the 2020s.