Jazz injury report may be sign of what's to come down the line

The Utah Jazz let the Brooklyn Nets inch closer to them in the tanking game when the former beat the latter the other night. The Jazz are the fifth-worst team in the NBA and are three games ahead of the Nets in the tanking game, but there's plenty of season for them and anyone else behind the Jazz to catch up.

The Jazz will likely do everything in their power to get ahead in the tanking sweepstakes, which includes trading players like Collin Sexton and having players be out for an extended period. The Jazz might be doing just that, as they released their injury report for their upcoming game against the Hornets.

No one is questioning the legitimacy of these injuries. Clarkson has been in and out of the injury report for a good chunk of the season, and that's been the case for some time now. However, don't be surprised if the Jazz put out lengthy injury reports for the rest of the season.

Besides Cooper Flagg, this is pretty loaded draft class filled with multiple prospects who could change the Jazz's fortunes drastically long-term. Like anyone with the same intentions, the Jazz will do everything in their power not to screw that up. That means multiple important players will miss a lot of games going forward.

Of course, if some of the Jazz's likely trade candidates are on a different team after February 6, that could change things up a bit, but there's no guarantee that Utah will trade them somewhere else.

This is one of the bigger consequences of tanking

The Jazz have been a bad team, but despite all of their losses this season, they have produced a pretty entertaining product. However, they haven't left much for interpretation regarding what they want more than anything this season. Because of who's entering the 2025 NBA Draft, no one can blame them.

Because they are all in on the tank, it will come as no surprise that from now on, they'll likely have more and more of their guys out due to injuries as the season reaches its end, especially if they are facing off against a fellow tanker. Their opponent is the Hornets, one of the very few teams that have been worse than the Jazz this season.

Tonight is an opportunity for the Jazz to move up in the tanking sweepstakes, so, of course, guys like Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, and John Collins are out. While they may not have such a lengthy injury report against teams that they expect to beat them, it's a good bet they'll have them when they go up against teams like the Nets and Hornets.