The 8 Greatest Jazz players in history, ranked by Player Efficiency Rating (PER)

Since the franchise's inception 50 years ago, many talented and exciting players have suited up for the Utah Jazz. Though the franchise has never taken home an NBA championship, there have been plenty of talented players and dominant teams over the course of multiple eras.

When we talk about ways to analyze and compare the best Jazz players of all time, one of the most unique is by using a statistic called Player Efficiency Rating, or PER. Developed by ESPN Columnist John Hollinger, this number is found by totaling up all the positive and negative achievements from a player over the course of their career, and combining them into a single number.

This advanced stat tells us just how effective a player was from an overall perspective using various counting stats. For reference, a PER of 15 indicates a league-average level player, with 20 being an All-Star level player and 25 or higher being MVP level. These eight players have the highest PERs in Jazz history.

8. Walker Kessler - 19.8

It is incredible that Walker Kessler lands in the top eight of this list in just his second season in the league. PER tends to favor big men due to their ability to rack up points and rebounds more easily than perimeter players, but this is still an impressive achievement.

Last season, Kessler finished third in Rookie of the Year voting after having a top-tier season as a rim protector. The first-year center put up 9.2 points and 8.4 rebounds, along with 2.3 blocks per game. His play was so impressive that it played a big part in furthering the narrative that the Jazz won the Rudy Gobert trade with the Timberwolves.

That narrative is struggling right now, with Walker taking a step back in his sophomore season and Gobert returning to the level of a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. However, that should not detract from how good Kessler has been in his brief time in Utah thus far.