The Utah Jazz are not going to have their best defensive big when Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder host the crew from Salt Lake City. Holmgren is the Thunder's stellar rookie who is out playing just about every rookie in the NBA and in the eyes of many is the front-runner for Rookie of the Year. He's averaging 17 points, and nearly eight rebounds, with two and a half assists and nearly two and a half blocks per game.
He's been stellar and the hope was that when the Thunder and Jazz played finally this season, Holmgren would test his skills against the Jazz's most dynamic defender, Walker Kessler. Kessler, who is averaging nine points, over eight rebounds, and two and a half blocks per game, is considered one of the best young bigs in the league, especially when it comes to the defensive end of the court.
if anyone could've slowed Holmgren down, Kessler had a shot. But we won't know if he could, as Kessler has been ruled out against the Thunder due to a foot issue. He joins Lauri Markkanen and John Collins on the injury report; with Markkanen out due to the hamstring issue and Collins questionable due to an illness.
Losing all three bigs against this Thunder squad would be a huge blow to their chances of winning. The Jazz are beaten up and struggling to find consistency with their lineups. The team is struggling to find consistency by those playing hard, and effort by those who are consistent. The awful combination of poor defensive effort and offensive inefficiency has doomed the Jazz to start off 7-15 on the season.
The Jazz need to start winning games if they hope to avoid a full collapse and a season of losing, and not having Kessler, Markkanen, and possibly Collins isn't going to help slow down the Thunder and Holmgren. The team that Holmgren is on is too good to beat short-handed, and the Jazz are going to have a tough task doing just that tonight.