Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 126-122 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Defense from the youth has a long way to go
This game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, as the Jazz got out to a 22-point deficit by the beginning of the fourth quarter before making a comeback late to tighten things.
To me, the most discouraging part was the defensive end of the floor. The Sixers' players playing tonight make a combined $23 million per year, with nary a star among them. And yet the Jazz’s youth allowed Quentin Grimes and Lonnie Walker IV (recently out of the NBA) to score 25 points each, while Jazz castoff Jared Butler scored 15 and second-round pick Adam Bona 14.
This is good initial defense from Brice Sensabaugh. But Kyle Filipowski gets pushed out of the way for the board, and Isaiah Collier’s no help on the other side. (In fact, Collier’s even tiptoeing away to avoid contact with Andre Drummond. Foul that guy — he’s a career 48% free-throw shooter!)
Same thing here: Jared Butler drives on Cody Williams, and Williams does well to stay involved in the play with Butler after the screen. But once Butler passes to Oubre, Collier’s help makes no impact, and Williams is so focused on Butler that he doesn’t get a hand in to bother the shot. He could help but decides not to.
Just to round out the group of young guys: Keyonte George does well to stay in front of Ricky Council IV here... but once the turnaround happens, George just gives up on defending the play. What’s that thing Mark Jackson used to say on ESPN broadcasts nonstop for a decade?
It feels like too often, there’s a sense of resignation from the Jazz’s youth defensively right now. It might make sense given what the team is doing overall, trying to lose games! But they should be fighting for their NBA lives, and I don’t see much of that fight throughout entire defensive possessions.
2. Which of the Jazz’s non-guaranteed players should they keep next season?
All 15 of the Jazz’s main roster players are under contract for next season — but four of them have non-guaranteed contracts. (All contract data from Spotrac.)
• K.J. Martin’s $8 million for next season is fully nonguaranteed, but becomes fully guaranteed if the Jazz don’t waive him before Jan. 10, 2026.
• Svi Mykhailuk has three years and $11 million remaining on his contract after this season, with each successive season becoming fully guaranteed on June 30 of the year proceeding it. (In other words, Mykhailiuk would need to be waived before June 30, 2025 for the Jazz to avoid paying his salary for the 2025-26 season.)
• Johnny Juzang’s contract works in the same way, but owes him $8 million over the remaining three years.
• Jaden Springer has two years, $5 million left on his deal after this season. $400K of that becomes guaranteed on July 25, 2025, $600K guaranteed on opening night of 2025-26, and then the full $2.3M owed for 2025-26 would become guaranteed on Jan. 10, 2026. In 2026-27, it works the same way, but with $454,200 guaranteed on July 25, 2026, $681,300 on opening night, and the full $2.7 guaranteed on Jan. 10, 2027.
With those players, I think you have to consider two things: what is their upside, and what is the likelihood you can trade them (a la Drew Eubanks) to a contender who may value them?
And then you have to consider that the Jazz have two first-round picks and two second-round picks this year. Theoretically, if the Jazz kept all of their other players (which I don’t think they will), in order to put those picks on the roster, they’d have to waive all four of these non-guaranteed guys.
We just haven’t seen Springer play that much, only 66 minutes in a Jazz uniform. He’s the youngest of the four at just 22, so if he plays well in the remaining 20 games, there’s a real case for keeping him aboard. If he’s only okay... it’d be fair to move on.
Juzang, at just 23, has found a niche as a high-volume, decent-efficiency role player shooter. It’s hard to imagine him becoming much better than he is now, but what he is now isn’t exactly terrible either. I think you might as well keep him as either a keeper or a trade possibility, unless there’s a better option.
Mykhailiuk has the same marketable skillset as Juzang, but at 27, this is who he is. He’s a better passer than Juzang, but those attempted playmaking chances just as often end up in turnovers. Maybe most importantly, he’s the same guy who’s already bounced around the waiver wire before, and it’s hard to imagine a team giving up anything for him in a trade.
K.J. Martin’s an interesting one. He’s the opposite style of wing as compared to Juzang and Mykhailiuk. A month ago, he was just salary dumped by the Sixers to get under the luxury tax at the cost of two second-round picks. I don’t think he has trade value as a player at $8 million as it stands.
But might that $8 million contract be useful to deal? It wouldn’t be in the offseason, because it’s nonguaranteed and therefore counts as $0 outgoing... but once it becomes guaranteed on Jan. 10, 2026, it might be nice at the deadline next year. K.J.‘s a good locker room guy, too, and it’s not like he has zero potential — if he learned how to shoot consistently, he’d be a really great role player.
In other words, these four players’ futures all depend on what else the Jazz do with their roster this summer, and what their hopes are for next deadline.
3. Adjust free throw attempts for chicken
Which is more important: basketball or solving hunger?
It’s the latter, darn it. But nevertheless, every day, basketball players are making free throws that deny at-risk communities free food.
At the Delta Center, we hear the desperate shouts (even screams!) of fans, begging opponents to miss two free throws in a row in the fourth quarter so that we Utahns may get some free chicken from Chick-Fil-A.
But today, it was Jazz players who took the villainous role, preventing Philly residents from getting a 5-count, 8-count, or 12-count of sustenance-providing chicken nuggets. Keyonte George and Kyle Filipowski both, instead, dutifully made at least one of their two attempts.
Even in the best, most competitive of circumstances, this is a moral failing. Perhaps when the Jazz were trying to win games, and when wins meant scholarships for underprivileged, first-generation college students, it could be justified. Perhaps those newly-educated kids could go on and build their communities up, providing food indirectly to those who need it.
As the Jazz now seek to lose games, though, and without a scholarship at stake, to make these free throws anyway is an absurdity. Making these free throws benefits only one person — the free-throw shooter and his future contract — while hurting everyone else.
So I thusly propose here: for NBA players for the rest of the season, fourth-quarter free throws with chicken at stake should no longer count in the players’ statistics.
That way, players can be free to make the right call when chicken circumstances arrive, filling folks' bellies and making a brighter future for us all.
Thank you. Vote Andy Larsen.
Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
