The Utah Jazz keep racking up losses. They haven't won a game since barely toppling New Orleans and have lost their last five games. Getting blown out by Portland at home was bad enough, but now they just suffered yet another blowout at the hands of San Antonio.
Two really good teams, for what it's worth, and in all fairness, the Jazz's schedule hasn't been a breeze. However, even with that context, at 1-6, Utah just tied its third-worst start seven games into the season, as KSL Sports' Chandler Holt pointed out.
That also ties them with their tanking squad from two years prior. The 2024-25 Jazz started out the same way, and then finished with the worst record in franchise history. The difference though is that back then, it was tolerable because that's what the team wanted to do from the jump. 1-6 was an ideal start for a tanking team.
This team isn't tanking. In fact, beyond the idea of potentially becoming a playoff team, they also have good reason not to tank, since they would be at risk of giving the Memphis Grizzlies a potentially high lottery pick if everything goes wrong.
It wouldn't be too hard to swallow if that's what happens on that front, but in general, what makes it more painful is the fact that it wasn't supposed to start like this. Becoming a winner is a process for a team depending on young talent, but in cases like this, 3-4 is acceptable while 1-6 is anything but.
This was supposed to be a step up from the last few years
It was fun to think that this Jazz team not only would be demonstrably better, but their ceiling would be so ambiguous that th fans could be ready for just about anything. That is, as long as they won some of their games. They haven't. The one outcome no one wanted, the Jazz are getting right now.
It's not entirely their fault. They have been dealing with some bad injuries to start this season. When Jusuf Nurkic and Jaren Jackson Jr. come back, the game changes for the Jazz. There are no guarantees for sure, but it's fair to assume that they won't play as badly as they have with this 1-6 start.
There's still plenty of time for Utah to figure themselves out and become the team everyone hoped they would be, but it's just so discouraging that after playing the waiting game over the past few years, now we have to wait even more while the Jazz are still losing the majority of their games.
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