As the Utah Jazz franchise kicked off their 52nd season in the NBA (and 47th in Utah) on Wednesday night, nobody in the fanbase suspected that history was about to be made.
With the Jazz coming off a tanking season in 2024-25 that resulted in a franchise-worst 17-65 mark, it was unexpected that history of a better kind was in the making this time around.
The Jazz scored early and often in a blowout win over the Los Angeles Clippers that night, giving the home crowd something they had waited years for - hope.
To understand the significance of the Jazz's win, we checked the highest-scoring opening games in Jazz franchise history. Surprisingly, there were only seven times the Jazz cleared 120 points in an opener! All of these have occurred after the move to Salt Lake City, in 1979:
The Jazz's history of 120-point games
2020-21- Utah 120, Portland 100. This opening-night win over Portland kicked off a stellar season in which the Utah Jazz went 52-20, finishing first in the Western Conference. This was the apex team of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era.
1989-90 - Utah 122, Denver 113. The Jazz kick-started a 55-win season with this victory, sending them to their second straight season of 50+ wins. Karl Malone was in peak form, scoring 31.1 points per game and finishing 4th in MVP voting. John Stockton set an NBA record with 14.5 assists per game, one that still stands today.
2022-23 - Utah 123, Denver 102. The Jazz started the post-Donovan Mitchell era with a patchwork roster, but gave the eventual NBA Champions their first loss of the season. Four Jazz players off the bench scored in double figures. The Jazz started that season 10-3 before injuries and roster changes derailed a scrappy, fighting bunch. They ended up just outside the playoffs at 37-45.
2018-19 - Utah 123, Sacramento 117. This was the first year where the Donovan and Rudy pairing really started to click in Utah. The team went 50-32 and finished 5th in the West that year, with Rudy winning his second consecutive DPOY award, and Donovan emerging as an exciting young scorer from all over the court.
1983-84 - Denver 139, Utah 125. This was the first Jazz team to post a winning record. They won the Midwest Division with a 45-37 mark, and had multiple players lead the league in statistical categories - Adrian Dantley (30.6 ppg), Rickey Green (2.7 steals per game), Mark Eaton (4.3 blocks per game), and Darrell Griffith (three-point percentage leader, .361). They also got the first playoff series win in team history, 3-2 over the Denver Nuggets.
2024-25 - Memphis 126, Utah 124. Last season's opener proved to be a high point for the Jazz, giving Memphis all they could handle before falling on opening night. Sadly, that was one of the most competitive games in a 17-65 season.
2025-26 - Utah 129, LA Clippers 108. No Jazz team has scored as much as Wednesday night's group did in an opener. And in setting the record for Jazz points in an opener, it also got the team their first unbeaten mark in the standings since October 19, 2022 (the above-mentioned game against Denver). The outlook for this Jazz team is already trending upward.
Will this great opening win lead to a winning season? Only time will tell. For now, we can enjoy some good Jazz basketball!