The Utah Jazz are getting a little more time in the national spotlight.
When the 2026-27 regular season schedule first dropped, Utah was already lined up for six nationally televised games across 82 contests. Now the league has added two more NBA TV appearances, both set before the All-Star break in February.
The first comes on Monday, November 23, when the Jazz visit the Los Angeles Lakers. The second arrives on January 15, when Utah is back on the road to face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That gives the Jazz a tougher-looking pair of TV windows against two teams carrying plenty of star power. The Lakers now have Luka Doncic running the show for the first time without LeBron James this season, while the Thunder still feature two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the top of his game.
So these aren’t exactly soft landings for a Utah team trying to climb out of the rebuild and win more games than it has in recent seasons. But they do give the Jazz a chance to show where they stand on a bigger stage.
That’s a meaningful shift from a year ago, when Utah had only two games on national television. The context makes sense, too. The Jazz spent multiple seasons losing on purpose to improve lottery odds, and that approach eventually left them with a 22-win season in 2025-26.
This time around, the outlook is different. Utah is trying to build a roster that can get back to the postseason for the first time in four years, blending veteran pieces with younger talent in a way that could make the team one of the more interesting watch in the league.
The full national TV slate now looks like this:
@ LA Clippers | November 17th, NBC
@ LA Lakers | November 23rd, NBA TV
@ Golden State Warriors | December 1st, NBC
@ OKC Thunder | January 15th, NBA TV
@ Denver Nuggets | January 19th, NBC
@ Houston Rockets | February 3rd, ESPN
vs. Houston Rockets | February 9th, NBC
vs. Washington Wizards | February 27th, Prime
Utah’s first game on that list is still a little more than two months away. The regular season itself starts on October 21 on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.
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For Utah, there is a familiar subplot tucked into the vote. Will Hardy finished just behind Carlisle, a reminder that the Jazz coach still has the kind of profile that can rise quickly if his team takes the expected step forward. Mitch Johnson also drew support in the discussion, but Carlisles edge shows how much respect remains attached to a veteran coach whose rsum and recent work still resonate with voters. [Read more 🡒]