The 2025 Summer League provided a compelling platform to second-year big man Kyle Filipowski. The former Duke Blue Devils star showed out, displaying every element of his dynamic offensive skill set that has the Utah Jazz captivated by his upside.
Unfortunately, Filipowski's emergence has revealed an unfortunate truth about Utah's roster: Its three most intriguing big men can't seem to share the court in a positive manner.
Utah's interior depth chart is flush with talent. Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler are pencilled in as starters, Filipowski is positionally versatile and can play either the 4 or 5 behind them, and Jusuf Nurkic is in the mix until he's bought out or traded.
It's intriguing to consider if Filipowski, Markkanen, and Kessler can learn to coexist as a three-headed monster, but early results have been unfavorable.
In 2024-25, the Jazz ranked in the 35th percentile in net rating across 589 possessions with Filipowski and Markkanen sharing the court. More concerning, however, is the fact that they finished in the 1st percentile when Filipowski and Kessler were on the court—with a sample size of 526 possessions.
Perhaps time and development will cure all concerns, but if the Jazz have learned anything up to this point, it's that Filipowski doesn't fit with the current bigs.
Kyle Filipowski struggled to play with Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen in 2024-25
It's important to note the context of this issue, as Filipowski was a rookie in 2024-25, As such, the expectation that he would turn in net-positive performances may have been unfair, as he was still adjusting to the pace of the NBA.
Utah also won just 17 games as a team, thus revealing how poor the numbers were inevitably going to look for any of their individuals.
The process of determining whether or not Filipowski and Kessler can coexist as the interior duo of the future, however, creates several burning questions. For one, it's worth pondering if there's enough upside to justify sacrificing short-term results for long-term gains considering how historically bad they were as a duo in 2024-25.
Along those same lines, it must then be asked what should come of Markkanen—a superior talent at this stage with a massive contract and an injury history that's weakening the trade market.
Markkanen won the Most Improved Player award in 2022-23, but much has changed since then. He's now 28, is entering the first season on a four-year deal worth just under $196 million, and has missed at least 27 games in two of the past three seasons.
Unfortunately, the last detail isn't a new trend. Markkanen has missed at least 21 games in five of his eight NBA seasons—and was absent from at least 14 in each of the other three.
With an injury-prone former All-Star whose contract now dictates an All-NBA level of play, it's fair to question if the Jazz can organically clear space for Filipowski to come into his own. As such, Utah could be forced to either bench its $196 million star or decide to part ways with Kessler.
Regardless of which outcome takes hold, Filpowski's emergence as a rising force at Summer League has put Utah in a brutal position.