Fun fact: if the season finished today, the Utah Jazz would have their first season with two 20-point scorers on the roster in Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George since the 2020-21 season, back when Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic achieved the feat together. That's exciting enough as it is, but the reason the Jazz must keep the dynamic duo is that a) how well they play together, and b) they are impressively clutch together.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen delved into this yesterday when discussing just how good the duo is.
Larsen harped on the fact that the Jazz aren't actually that bad of a team when Markkanen and George play together (note: they are 14-19 in the games they've shared the floor), while emphasizing it's not just how good they are individually, but how well they play together.
"The number one reason this works is the two-man game between Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen. We know both of those guys have been having terrific individual seasons, but I don’t think it’s been emphasized just how well they play off each other at this point. We’re approaching mind-meld status," Larsen wrote.
Larsen then revealed a stat from PBPStats.com indicating that confirmed Markkanen and George are No. 2 among the top two two-man assist pairings, as Larsen explained that, "George has gotten super adept at finding Markkanen on time and on target."
Larsen also revealed that, despite the Jazz's record, they handle their business when the going gets tough, which he attributes to the Markkanen-George duo.
"Impressively, the combination is also working extremely well late in games, where the Jazz have been one of the league’s best clutch teams this season. The Jazz have a 10-7 record in clutch games, and the sixth-best net rating in the NBA."
(The Jazz lost a clutch game last night, per NBA.com, making them 10-8, though they have the fifth-best net rating now)
All of this points to that while we already knew Markkanen was a building block, not only do the Jazz have two, but they have a duo that works well together. It's not leading to success, but the data here suggests that Utah has something really promising.
It's clear the Jazz have a foundation to build on now
Before this season started, everyone knew that Markkanen was coming off a bad year, but also knew that he was definitely good enough to return to form, which is something he has proven. What wasn't known ahead of time was whether he would have a running mate with him. Now he does with George.
Yes, the Jazz are currently bad, but stats like these show that their bad play right now is only because of their plans, and that when they start winning next season, Markkanen and George will lead the charge. They aren't the only foundational pieces Utah has, as Ace Bailey's talent is palpable and Walker Kessler will presumably return next season.
While it's clear Utah has something brewing, what's yet to be determined is how high a ceiling this team will have with Markkanen and George playing at an All-Star level. But hey, given where the Jazz were at this team, having some modicum of hope is better than none at all.