Don't let Keyonte George's abysmal performance against the Houston Rockets yesterday fool you. He has been the Utah Jazz's second-best player and most impressive story of the season. Because of how consistently good he's been, George's ascent should stop the Jazz from acquiring a star point guard that could hit the market this season.
For context, it's recently been reported that the Jazz plan to add more help around Lauri Markkanen rather than trade him. They have the assets to add someone who could change their fortune, but because of George's improvement, thankfully, a star point guard shouldn't be on their radar.
Why is that such a relief? Because the usual suspects have been point guards whose effectiveness have come into a lot of question lately. The ones in mind are Trae Young, Ja Morant, and LaMelo Ball.
None of these players are old. In fact, if anything, they are stepping into their prime. However, the red flags are starting to emerge. The Atlanta Hawks have been killing it lately, and their hot stretch has happened to coincide with Young being sidelined with a knee injury. The Charlotte Hornets just recently completed an impressive comeback over Toronto after benching Ball. The Memphis Grizzlies have been dealing with even more turmoil from Morant this season.
It's not currently clear what any of those teams' plans are for those point guards, but this will definitely be monitored as the season goes on. It would be a mistake for the Jazz to get them not just because of George or their questionable effectiveness as players, but also because their contracts are too big for Utah to roll the dice on. Because of George, they don't have to take the risk.
Because Utah wants more help, it would have been a possibility that they would be linked to any of these three, but George's ascent should keep them out of it.
George may not be as good as them, but he's good enough and comes with no baggage
No one is saying George is on the same level as those three in terms of overall talent, but he has proven he's a good enough player all-around to dissuade them from ever approaching trade talks with any of them. More importantly, he's not a problem in the locker room, he's on a rookie deal, and his improvement have made the Jazz more formidable. Them losing as much as they have isn't really on his head.
Now, if the Jazz were playoff contenders hoping to vault themselves into title contention, maybe this would be a different discussion. While they want to improve, they are not that desperate. The team has every reason to see through what they have in George. Only if and when they see a limited ceiling with him running things should they look into acquiring an upgrade.
Many will disagree with the Jazz's mindset here, but if they want help, they can get some, depending on the price. When they go star searching, they can take comfort knowing that they have their bases covered in the point guard department.