Jaren Jackson Jr. Explains What Utah Jazz Need to Make Postseason

The Utah Jazz head into this upcoming NBA season with some different expectations from what they've been faced with for the past few years.

The team is filled with youth, talent, and hopes of being able to make the postseason for the first time since 2022. They've got two All-Stars, a bundle of budding young pieces brought in from the past few summers, and finally feel prepared to make that long-awaited leap.

However, having a strong team on paper is only half of it. Especially in a tough Western Conference landscape, making that climb from being one of the league's bleakest teams to one that sits over .500 can be much easier said than done, and even more so for a team that has the type of youth like Utah does.

But the Jazz do have some playoff-tested veterans in the room around their inexperience––such as with guys like Jaren Jackson Jr.––who bring the necessary perspective this group could use on their route to making that vault into being a top-eight seed this season.

Jaren Jackson Jr.'s Message for Jazz's Playoff Aspirations

As for how Jackson can help prepare this young Jazz roster to take the next step, the former Defensive Player of the Year spoke about what exactly is needed to meet those expectations of being a playoff-ready team during media day earlier this week.

The main takeaways? Stay extremely competitive and even-keeled.

"You just gotta be competitive. You have to be ultra-competitive all the time," Jackson Jr. said. "You can't really be too high or too low. That's like the main thing; just keeping it even-keeled."

Jackson Jr. has been in a bit of a similar situation that the Jazz are in right now back during his time with the Memphis Grizzlies. Once he arrived in 2018, the team was still young, rebuilding, and took a few years before the pieces came together for their roster to be a true competitor in the West.

The Grizzlies then made their surge up the standings, had a nice run of making the playoffs in four of five seasons from 2021 to 2025, found their way to the second round once, and got bounced in the first the other three times.

Dec 19, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (left), forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (middle) and guard Desmond Bane (right) react during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

So Jackson Jr. knows probably better than anyone to not get carried away by any high expectations that a young team might face. So instead, remaining focused, not getting too high or too low, and taking things one day at a time becomes a whole lot more important to build a sustainable winner.

"I got a lot of lessons with that, for sure," Jackson Jr. said. "Because I felt like, before, we had a lot of success [in Memphis] when I was younger, and I don't think our expectations were that high, and when the expectations were high, and I think when we were meeting them at times, we probably should've celebrated them more."

"So, it's finding a balance of celebrating, but also keeping it together when it gets hard; staying in the same temperament all the time."

Jaren Jackson Jr. on how the Jazz can take the next step to make the postseason:

🗣️ "You just gotta be competitive. You have to be ultra-competitive all the time."

"You can't really be too high or too low. That's like the main thing... I got a lot of lessons with that." pic.twitter.com/g3N63zXHin
— Utah Jazz On SI (@JazzOnSI) September 30, 2026

Now as Jackson Jr. turns the page to a new chapter with the Jazz, he'll be able to carry over some of that prior experience from the Grizzlies' rebuild in hopes that he can help this young core find their way to higher heights than his Memphis squad ever reached.

The young talent, on paper, is certainly there for that jump to come in due time. And with Jackson Jr.'s presence as not only a premier frontcourt defender, but also an experienced leader, the Jazz's odds of shooting up the standings become a bit more feasible.

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