Jaren Jackson Jr. Has Season-Ending Surgery Amid Jazz Tanking Criticism

Jaren Jackson Jr., a two-time All-Star forward and former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, will undergo surgery to remove a localized pigmented villonodular synovitis growth in his left knee, the Jazz announced Thursday. The procedure will end Jackson’s season just three games into his tenure with Utah.

The surgery was scheduled for the upcoming NBA All-Star break after an MRI identified the PVNS growth. While Jackson is expected to make a full recovery, per the Jazz release, NBA insider Chris Haynes reports that he is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025–26 season.

Utah acquired Jackson as the centerpiece of an eight-player trade with Memphis, also bringing in John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr. in the deal. The Jazz shipped out three first-round picks along with rookie Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang to the Grizzlies.

In Jackson, Utah added one of the NBA’s best interior defenders and built an incredibly intriguing frontcourt, which also features former All-Star Lauri Markkanen and center Walker Kessler, who is already out for this season with a shoulder injury.

Jackson is averaging 19.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game this season, and scored 22.3 points per game in his three outings with the Jazz in just 24 minutes per game. Jackson is a fearsome defender at the rim, averaging 1.9 blocks per game in his career. He led the league in average blocks in both 2021–22 (2.3) and 2022–23 (3.0), winning Defensive Player of the Year that season. He is a two-time All-Defensive first-team selection, and made the 2023 and ‘25 All-Star Games.

Jaren Jackson Jr. injury doesn’t change the equation for the tanking Jazz

Acquiring Jackson Jr. at the deadline was a significant move for Utah—but one that was clearly forward-looking for a team looking to contend in the future.

At 18–37, the Jazz are well out of the playoff picture. Utah is eight games back of the tenth-place Trail Blazers (26–29) in the loss column for what would be the final spot in the play-in tournament. Even with Jackson, it wasn’t realistic for the Jazz to make up that deficit. Now, they certainly hope to be in the mix for the top of the 2026 NBA draft. Per Tankathon, Utah current has a 9% chance of landing the top pick, the sixth-best odds in the NBA. The Jazz have a 37.2% chance of landing in the top four, where they’d be in the mix for a local superstar in BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, or one of the other top prospects like Kansas guard Darryn Peterson or Duke forward Cameron Boozer (son of former Utah All-Star Carlos Boozer). Of any individual pick, the best odds for the Jazz are at No. 7 (29.8%).

Earning a top three pick may be about as competitive as reaching the play-in tournament, though. As Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix wrote this week, Utah won a game in Miami Monday despite sitting three key starters, including Jackson, for the entirety of the fourth-quarter—the second consecutive game in which the Jazz unloaded the bench for the final frame while holding a lead.

Jackson’s absence is certainly a personal setback and Utah would have enjoyed seeing what they had in the 26-year-old Michigan State product over the last few months of the season, but they pretty clearly weren’t hoping for him to lead the Jazz to a bunch of wins after the All-Star break.

What is localized pigmented villonodular synovitis?

Per the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a “condition where the lining of a joint or tendon grows too thick and causes problems,” turning into a mass or benign tumor. The condition is non-life threatening but painful, causing swelling and can destroy bone.

The issue usually develops in the knee, as is the case with Jackson, but can also occur in the hips, ankles, shoulders and elbows.

Jackson is dealing with localized PVNS, indiciating that it is only occuring in one part of the joint, and is thus easier to treat.

More NBA from Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.