Utah Is 1-6 With the NBA's 28th-Ranked Rating — and Now Comes the Hard Part

Seven games into a season the Jazz front office spent the summer building toward, Utah sits at 1-6 with a minus-11.9 point differential. The lone win was a one-point escape at home against a New Orleans team that has its own problems. Everything else has been a double-digit loss or close to it: 123-103 in Memphis on opening night, 123-132 to the Lakers, 105-110 to Memphis again, 111-117 to San Antonio, 90-112 to Portland on Halloween, then 119-97 in San Antonio on Monday.

The numbers underneath the record are just as grim. Over the last five games Utah is 0-5 with a net rating of minus-12.7, an offensive rating of 104.1, and a defensive rating of 116.8. Weight that recent stretch more heavily and the offensive efficiency dips to an effective field goal percentage around 40% with a net rating near minus-18.6. The Jazz rank 21st in the league in defensive rating (137.3 in this season's tracking) and 17th in offensive rating. For a team that entered the year with genuine expectations, this is a worse start than the seasons when losing was the plan.

The Injury That Broke the Frontcourt

The single biggest on-court cause is Jaren Jackson Jr. He tore an MCL in his right knee against Memphis on Oct. 26 and is out six to eight weeks, no surgery required. Jackson had opened the year at 16.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in 26 minutes a night, including 24 points and 10 boards in the Pelicans win. His absence landed on top of the Walker Kessler trade that sent Utah's other proven center to Los Angeles, leaving Mo Bamba (9.0 points, 5.8 rebounds in 18.5 minutes) and Jaxson Hayes as the interior rotation.

Lauri Markkanen has shouldered more as a result and has been uneven doing it: 28 points against the Lakers, then a 6-minute, 2-point night against Memphis after a wrist sprain, then 3-of-14 for 13 points against Portland, then a 22-point, 8-rebound response in San Antonio. He's at 16.5 points on the season, a meaningful step down from his All-Star baseline.

The Collier Decision

On Monday the Jazz declined Isaiah Collier's $4.99 million team option for 2027-28, making the 22-year-old guard a coveted free agent next summer and an obvious trade candidate. Collier has been productive in limited run — 7.4 points and 5.1 assists in 17.7 minutes — but Utah's guard room is crowded with Keyonte George (19.6 points, 5.4 assists), Darryn Peterson (13.4 points) and Ace Bailey (12.1 points, 7.6 rebounds).

That's a front office reading the season honestly. Collier joins Cody Williams as a 2024 first-rounder the Jazz have moved on from, and with Markkanen trade chatter already bubbling — Portland is among the teams linked — the next six weeks will determine whether this is a slow start or the beginning of another reset.

What's Next

Utah plays at New Orleans on Nov. 4, at Dallas on Nov. 6, and at Minnesota on Nov. 8 before returning home for Miami and Orlando. The Pelicans game is the softest landing spot available, and the schedule does ease overall compared to the Spurs-and-Memphis gauntlet that opened the year.

There's a legitimate case that this is closer to a schedule-and-injury artifact than a true bottom-five team. Utah's SRS-style power rating sits at minus-8.22, 28th in the league, but it's up 2.28 points from last week and roughly three points better than last season's minus-11.23 mark. The market has this team pegged almost exactly at model, so nobody is getting fooled.

The real question is whether Markkanen, George and the young core can stabilize things while Jackson rehabs. If they can't, the Collier decision won't be the last uncomfortable one this front office makes before February.