Utah Jazz Predicted to Have Abysmal Offense Next Season

In the past three years of the Will Hardy era Utah Jazz, the team has seemingly been on a downward spiral when it comes to their production on the offensive side of the ball.

Compared to their league-best output in 2022 to become the top offense the NBA has had to offer, the Jazz have only seen those numbers drastically decline in the years since.

In year one of the rebuild, Utah managed to still furnish a top-10 offense, which scaled down to the 17th-best in 2024, and then to 24th at 111.2 in 2025, their worst offensive rating since 2019, and lowest when stacked up against the league since 2014.

Simply, it's the consequences of putting a team together on the floor that's both still developing and has its eyes focused more on their placement in the draft lottery rather than putting wins on the board, which certainly has its upside, might not lead to the best, most efficient production in the short-term.

And when it comes to looking ahead for what the Jazz may have in store for next season, some think the offensive side of the ball could turn out to be even worse than Utah's been recently accustomed to.

Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz recently dished out grades for how each NBA team's offense could look for the 2025-26 season, giving the Jazz a brutal "F" grade, crediting the lack of experience for this group's young players to be a hindrance to their scoring production.

"An offense that ranked 24th last season just got a lot worse with so many key losses," Swartz wrote. "The Jazz have a first-round pick to protect and will rely on a rookie-heavy wing to help them keep it. This could very well be the worst offense in all of basketball, especially if Markkanen is traded."

It's far from a glowing review for what could be in store for the Jazz if a league-worst offense is in play, but it won't be without a few positives to bank on. Swartz also highlights the youth on this roster that, while still developing, could take steps forward offensively to help Utah lift off the bottom of the floor in terms of scoring production.

"Lauri Markkanen hasn't been traded yet, even though Collin Sexton, John Collins and Jordan Clarkson are all gone. Cody Williams can't be as bad in Year 2. Hopefully we finally get a healthy season out of Taylor Hendricks. Rookies Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton have bright futures and there's plenty of other young talent sprinkled throughout the roster. Will Hardy is a good head coach who should get the most out of his players."

Will the Jazz really have one of the worst offenses in the NBA? It's hard to say. On the surface, with the likely plans Utah has to bottom out in the standings once again, paired with the young players set to have a larger workload on that side of the ball, there's a world where this offense dips once again, as it has for the past two seasons.

Yet, with a roster that we assume won't be deliberately tanking from day one, paired with a strong and young coaching mind in Will Hardy, the Jazz can easily exceed those gloomy expectations.

Nov 17, 2023; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) and head coach Will Hardy speak while the Phoenix Suns shoot free throws in the fourth quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Especially if Lauri Markkanen indeed remains on the roster throughout the course of the year as he's expected to be, his presence alone could be enough to lift Utah, at the very least, above the likes of other teams eyeing the lottery like the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans.

What really feels like a bigger concern for the Jazz is what things look like on the other side of the ball, as defensively, Utah has found their place as the worst-ranked defensive team of the past two years, and at least the bottom 10 in the past three.

Now, if both sides of the ball do tend to teeter on that league-worst bubble, it could be a long and strenuous season in Utah, but time will tell if that's the result to transpire.

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