The Utah Jazz's mid-year report for the 2023-2024 season

Mid Season Awards

Most Valuable Player - Lauri Markkanen

The Utah Jazz would not be where they are without Lauri Markkanen's steady scoring. While you could give the nod to Collin Sexton as well, Markkanen was a major part to last year's squad as well. This means this is now two seasons in a row that Markkanen has been the best player on over-achieving Jazz teams. Without him, the Jazz are just another lottery team.

Defensive Player of the Year - Kris Dunn

Kris Dunn takes the cake for right now, as his defensive impact on the starting five was one of the major reasons the team was able to turn around their season. Walker Kessler is still impressive but Will Hardy isn't unleashing him as much as he should. Special shoutout to Simone Fontecchio, who has been a nice surprise as a starting small forward.

Rookie of the Year - Keyonte George

This one goes to Keyonte George by default. He came in with a draft class that included Brice Sensabaugh and Taylor Hendricks and neither man has made any meaningful impact on the team. While George has shown some flashes, he's still mostly a net-negative player, who hinders the team more than he helps. That said, he at least has helped from time to time. More than any other rookie on the squad can say.

Most Improved

We're going to give this Collin Sexton by default, but it should be noted that he isn't playing on a whole new level. No, he played this well with the Cleveland Cavaliers before he hurt his knee, so maybe "comeback" is a more apt moniker for him. Either way, his leap from his play in the 2022-2023 season to the 2023-2024 season is markedly better, and so he takes the award for most improved.

Most Disappointing

This one is hard to give because Taylor Hendricks hasn't proven to be worth playing time yet, Ochai Agbaji has not developed as one would hope, John Collins is a defensive problem and Jordan Clarkson's defense is so bad that he's in the top five worst players in a variety of metrics. There's a lot of disappointment here, but we're going to go with Clarkson. Even though he can score 30 a night, he often gives up 40 or more points on his own. His defense is so bad that after a select amount of minutes, he becomes practically unplayable.