The Utah Jazz need all the help they can get on defense this season and one of those players who have been able to make a good impact on that side of the court has been point guard Kris Dunn. Dunn has not been given a lot of consistent time this season, but when he's played, he's played well. The one thing holding Dunn back from being a starter is his limited offensive game and his age.
Right now Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy wants to see if Keyonte George can be the team's starting point guard of the future, but he's struggled a lot so far, and while it may make sense to see what he can do long-term, Dunn provides a more stable and consistent hand. However, it seems unlikely Dunn will get a lot of starts between now and January as long as the team is still trying to make the Jordan Clarkson situation work.
And while it makes sense to try and get Dunn a lot reps as possible, simply due to his defense, the Utah Jazz are going to be without him for the foreseeable future, as the team's best perimeter player on defense was just ruled out due to personal issues. We're not sure what that entails but the news came out on Wednesday that Dunn would be away from the team for a bit. Dunn's absence will hurt the team's defense, no doubt.
They don't have another player at his position who is even nearly as good as Dunn is. Ochai Agbaji was supposed to be but he's struggled a lot to find any success on defense. Simone Fontecchio looks good on defense, but advanced metrics aren't on his side. Right now the team is relying on their two centers Walker Kessler and Omer Yurtseven to help slow down offenses and it's working for now.
But the Jazz will need Dunn eventually, so here's hoping these issues are eventually resolved.