Hope and expectation. Two words that have spent years outside the vocabulary of Utah Jazz fans and that, timidly, had begun to reappear in light of what seemed to be a season finally capable of competing. Nothing could be further from the truth: the Salt Lake City franchise owns the worst record in the West, has been hit by a plague of injuries, and Lauri Markkanen has fallen again.
The Finnish forward is dealing with a non-displaced fracture to the bones in his right hand and will be out for a month. He had already missed three games with a wrist sprain in the same hand, and now he will have to come to a sudden halt alongside Jaren Jackson Jr., who is projected to return on December 14 from knee issues.
By then, the Jazz will have played 14 more games than the few expect them to win. For better or worse, they do not own a pick in the upcoming Draft, having surrendered it to Memphis in the trade for the aforementioned Jackson Jr. So dropping into the relegation zone they currently occupy matters little in those terms.
Indeed, it conditions a project that has piled up years of rebuilding behind it and that, right or wrong, has come to symbolize tanking in recent times, making dubious ethical choices to derail seasons in which they could have pursued something more than just fighting for a top-3 selection. The campaign may already be lost by mid-November, a harsh stretch for a group that needs to learn to win as soon as possible.
