Will Jazz Finally Take a Step Forward This Season? ‘It Can’t Be Worse,’ Says NBA Scout

Editor’s Note: For the upcoming Sports Illustrated 2026–27 basketball preview magazine that will hit newsstands in October, SI spoke to anonymous scouts around the NBA about all 30 teams.

The Jazz have been the poster child of the NBA’s tanking epidemic for several seasons running now. But Utah finally seems poised to take a step forward and win games with a roster chock-full of both young and established NBA talent.

The roster will be led by All-Stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the frontcourt. Keyonte George, a big breakout star of last year’s campaign who earned a $155 million extension this summer, will be joined by No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson in the backcourt. Ace Bailey seems primed to build off a good rookie season, and coach Will Hardy is widely respected for getting the most out of the talent at hand, even if that hasn’t been evident in the wins column of late.

But all we’ve seen from Utah since trading Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert is loss after loss after loss. Is this the year the organization starts to win games in earnest?

“They're improved, certainly. I mean, it can't be worse, but I would think they're improved,” an anonymous NBA scout told Sports Illustrated.

Indeed, it cannot get much worse. Utah recorded at least 60 losses in each of the last two seasons and went to egregious lengths to rack up defeats in order to maximize draft position. So while there’s optimism, the Jazz have a lot to prove.

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“I like Will Hardy as a guy, interested to see what Will as a coach is now able to show,” the scout told SI. “He’s perceived as this great coach who has been dealt a bad hand. Maybe he is. Now we get to find out. Darryn Peterson's going to be really interesting to me to see how he does with all the controversy around him last year, but clearly has a skill set. I'm not a Keyonte George believer, so we'll see what that looks like.”

While Peterson marks another exciting addition to the core, the Jazz lost some young talent this offseason, too. Utah traded restricted free agent Walker Kessler after drafting and developing him into one of the best young centers in the league; he was shipped off to the Lakers, who signed him to a hefty new deal. Hardy now has to puzzle through a frontcourt that will largely star Markkanen and Jackson Jr., neither of which is a traditional center in the ilk of Kessler.

“They will miss Walker Kessler,” the anonymous scout said to SI. “I don't like the idea of Lauri Markkanen and Jackson Jr. being the only two frontcourt guys, one being the center and one being the four the whole time. I don’t like the idea of Markkanen being a three, but I do think that can be a lineup you can close with that could be pretty good. I just don't know how it is all game, every game.

“They both have a skill set where they can both be on the perimeter. They both have elite size, so you would think that would help you in your rebounding at minimum. And Markkanen has played well with other big guys, although they didn't have the same skill set as Jackson, but the [Evan] Mobley, Markkanen, [Jarrett] Allen trio was pretty effective for Cleveland in 2021–22. I would think it would work out pretty good.”

Offseason recap

Who’s in: Darryn Peterson, Jaxson Hayes, Josh Green, Josh Okogie
Who’s out: Walker Kessler, Cody Williams, Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love

The Jazz picked Peterson with the No. 2 pick in the 2026 NBA draft. He should mark the final piece of their tanking puzzle. Utah has intentionally lost many games over the years for the purpose of picking an elite talent like Peterson. The franchise got its guy—Peterson is very highly-regarded as a scoring prospect and might’ve gone No. 1 if not for cramping issues that effectively derailed his only season at Kansas. Kessler, as noted above, marks the big departure.

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Otherwise, Utah engaged in a lot of margin-shuffling, the most notable of which was giving up on Williams. The Jazz picked the younger brother of Thunder star Jalen Williams with the 10th pick in the ‘24 draft but it quickly became clear he was a long-term developmental project. Like, very long-term. Utah ran out of patience and included him in a trade with the Timberwolves for Josh Green.

SI’s prediction for the 2026–27 Jazz

Record: 43–39 | Predicting the 2026–27 NBA Standings: Which Teams Will Rise, Fall and Surprise?

The Sports Illustrated crew is pretty high on the Jazz this season. They have a well-fitting collection of elite talent, a good coach and (presumably) an organizational mandate to win games for the first time in years. Markkanen is a huge, awesome scorer, Peterson might be a hit from day one and JJJ will ensure the defensive baseline is a lot higher than it was in years past. Some more growth is needed out of George and Bailey, but Utah has the looks of a winning roster both big and skilled enough to excel in the modern NBA.

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