The Utah Jazz front office doesn't want the team to win. That's the hard cold truth the fans of the Utah Jazz have to deal with for the remainder of the season. Losing is winning in the eyes of Danny Ainge and company, which is just the most loser mentality you can have in pro sports. There's no guarantee that tanking will pan out, and there's no guarantee that the team will come back as is next season but somehow better. Players hate tanking, and doing so has clearly hurt the team's chemistry this year.
Normally, a team with 10 games left to go is likely to win at least one, but with how bad the Jazz have been as of late, that's not likely. Especially since the final nine teams are all against teams fighting for the playoffs, or positioning in the playoffs. Their last best shot at winning game No. 30 is on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs and now that doesn't even seem likely.
Can the @utahjazz channel their inner @Suns and lose to the @spurs tomorrow? #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/J37DXIFFLl
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) March 26, 2024
As KSL's Ben Anderson reports, Jordan Clarkson, Kris Dunn, Darius Bazley, Johnny Juzang, Kenneth Lofton Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Micha Potter, and Jason Preston are all either out or questionable against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs are the last team the Jazz have this season who seems to be a beatable opponent. They've been bad all season long and now that the Jazz are in the throughs of their tank, the opportunity for them to win is getting slimmer and slimmer with each passing game.
While a lot of fans will likely be on board with losing, just to get a draft pick, the fact is that losing takes a toll on the fandom and the players, and hoping for the team to have a 16-game losing streak may be too much for some players, and it may cause them to seek a trade. The Jazz can't afford that.