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The Utah Jazz have produced five different All-Stars over the past decade.
Gordon Hayward (2017), Rudy Gobert (2020-22), Donovan Mitchell (2020-22), Mike Conley (2021) and Lauri Markkanen (2023).
Yet unlike every other franchise to produce at least five different All-Stars during that span, Utah never reached the NBA Finals ... or even the Western Conference Finals.
But the Cleveland Cavaliers won a championship. So did the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. The Indiana Pacers got to the NBA Finals, as did the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
The Jazz always had talent. What they never had was a roster capable of winning four consecutive playoff rounds.
That's the reality Danny Ainge inherited.
And it's why his vision for Utah has never been about simply assembling another playoff team. It's been about building one with a championship ceiling.
Once this current iteration of the Jazz's roster reaches its full potential, that championship ceiling won't seem so far out of reach.
In fact, there's a case to be made that Utah's entire starting five could make individual All-Star cases.
Keyonte George is one of the best young guards in the league, and would've been in consideration to win the Most Improved Player of the Year in 2025-26 had he met the 65-game threshold. If he eventually made an All-Star team, no one would be surprised.
Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. have each already accomplished the feat; should they repeat it, that wouldn't come as a shock, either.
That leaves Ace Bailey ... who absolutely was projected to one day make an All-Star team coming out of Rutgers ... and Darryn Peterson ... who ESPN's Tim MacMahon said could be a top-10 player in the league within two years.
Now, logistically, will all five make the All-Star team in the same season? Probably not. The NBA record for one team is four, and that's only happened four times since 1998.
But the individual accolades aren't the point. What they'd represent is.
The pre-Ainge era Jazz teams, while talented, had their limitations.
If the young pieces currently in place can grow alongside the veteran ones under one of the league's brightest head coaches in Will Hardy, there isn't a de facto ceiling that could be placed on Utah's core.
That's no championship guarantee, of course, but a run to the Western Conference semifinals no longer feels like the absolute best-case scenario.
Continue reading...
Gordon Hayward (2017), Rudy Gobert (2020-22), Donovan Mitchell (2020-22), Mike Conley (2021) and Lauri Markkanen (2023).
Yet unlike every other franchise to produce at least five different All-Stars during that span, Utah never reached the NBA Finals ... or even the Western Conference Finals.
But the Cleveland Cavaliers won a championship. So did the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. The Indiana Pacers got to the NBA Finals, as did the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
The Jazz always had talent. What they never had was a roster capable of winning four consecutive playoff rounds.
That's the reality Danny Ainge inherited.
And it's why his vision for Utah has never been about simply assembling another playoff team. It's been about building one with a championship ceiling.
Once this current iteration of the Jazz's roster reaches its full potential, that championship ceiling won't seem so far out of reach.
In fact, there's a case to be made that Utah's entire starting five could make individual All-Star cases.
Keyonte George is one of the best young guards in the league, and would've been in consideration to win the Most Improved Player of the Year in 2025-26 had he met the 65-game threshold. If he eventually made an All-Star team, no one would be surprised.
Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. have each already accomplished the feat; should they repeat it, that wouldn't come as a shock, either.
That leaves Ace Bailey ... who absolutely was projected to one day make an All-Star team coming out of Rutgers ... and Darryn Peterson ... who ESPN's Tim MacMahon said could be a top-10 player in the league within two years.
Now, logistically, will all five make the All-Star team in the same season? Probably not. The NBA record for one team is four, and that's only happened four times since 1998.
But the individual accolades aren't the point. What they'd represent is.
The pre-Ainge era Jazz teams, while talented, had their limitations.
If the young pieces currently in place can grow alongside the veteran ones under one of the league's brightest head coaches in Will Hardy, there isn't a de facto ceiling that could be placed on Utah's core.
That's no championship guarantee, of course, but a run to the Western Conference semifinals no longer feels like the absolute best-case scenario.
Continue reading...
