3 Jazz Players to Keep an Eye on in Final Preseason Game vs. Suns

The Utah Jazz have their fourth and final preseason game of the year on the horizon for Friday night, as they'll be taking the road against the Phoenix Suns in hopes of claiming what would be their third exhibition win before the regular season gets rolling next week.

And in the process of the Jazz's preseason finale, there's bound to be a select few players taking the floor worth keeping a close eye on for one reason or another.

After all, it's the last time these players will be taking the floor in an in-game setting before the games really start to count in the regular season. So a big game from a certain player might be able to help their stock right ahead of opening night that's just a few days away.

With that in mind, let's take a look at three players from the Jazz's roster that I'll be watching closest on Friday night against the Suns:

Jaxson Hayes

Jaxson Hayes has been a name to keep close watch on through the Jazz's last two preseason games, and that'll only continue to be the case in this one against the Phoenix Suns.

Reason being: this might be Hayes' final audition to become the Jazz's fifth name in the starting lineup after it became clear that Jusuf Nurkic would be due to miss multiple weeks with a foot injury suffered in preseason.

Hayes has started the past two games in place of Nurkic as the Jazz's center. In three games, he's averaged 6.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game in a little over 16 minutes a night.

If he keeps up some solid production, and can click well with the rest of the Jazz's starters in the process, there's little reason why he wouldn't be the most likely to fill in for Hayes as that fifth and final starter.

Mo Bamba

When factoring in the injuries this Jazz big man rotation is currently facing heading into the new year with both Nurkic and Kyle Filipowski missing time, there's a good chance Mo Bamba will offer some early-season bench minutes to provide some frontcourt depth and size that this roster might be a little short-handed.

In the three games of preseason that the Jazz have played so far, Bamba has been one consistently getting over 10 minutes a night, along with some of the other key rotational pieces. So far, it's led to him averaging an impressive 7.6 points and 8.6 rebounds rebounds a night.

So keeping up that momentum here against Phoenix will be key for Bamba to keep raising his stock before the regular season officially tips off. Another statement performance could help his chances even further of landing one of the final spots in the rotation on opening night, while also locking in his non-guaranteed contract.

Ace Bailey

Ace Bailey will be an interesting study in this one. And that's not because of the offensive upside he could showcase once again as he has through his initial preseason appearances thus far. It's actually because of what he might be capable of on the defensive end.

The Jazz as a whole have been widely focused on improving the defensive side of the ball this year. And in the process of those aspired defensive improvements, head coach Will Hardy has commended Bailey for the strides he's been able to showcase on that end of the floor.

In Bailey's first preseason game against the Nuggets, Hardy considered his game the best of his career so far, which came because of how he attacked the defensive side of the ball.

This game against the Suns––with or without Devin Booker on the floor––will be another nice test for the second-year wing to get a glimpse of where his defensive skillset stands a week away from the regular season.

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