The Utah Jazz get right back at it against the Denver Nuggets, and this preseason rematch should offer another look at a few players worth tracking closely after Sunday’s 109-97 win.
The obvious headliner is No. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson. After a quiet preseason debut, he’ll be under the spotlight again in just his second exhibition game.
Peterson logged a team-high 22 minutes in the first meeting with Denver but finished with only three points on 1-of-5 shooting. He did add six rebounds and two assists, which gave the stat line a little more substance, but Utah will want more involvement from its top pick offensively this time around.
How the Jazz use Ace Bailey is another piece to watch. In the first preseason game, Peterson started next to Keyonte George, which pushed Bailey to the second unit in more of a sixth-man role for about 20 minutes.
That setup may suit him well, giving him a clearer path to be a featured option when he’s not sharing the floor with Utah’s starters. Against the Nuggets, Bailey took 10 shots, second-most on the team behind Lauri Markkanen, and finished with 10 points, plus a steal and a block.
His role and production in the rematch will be worth watching.
Then there’s Blake Hinson, who turned heads in more ways than one on Sunday. The two-way signee not only delivered on the court, but also made waves with his postgame interview.
On the floor, he led Utah’s bench scorers with 14 points, hitting 5 of 8 shots and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. That kind of shooting is what could help him push into the conversation for a rotation spot later in the season, and another strong showing here would only strengthen his case.
If Hinson keeps it rolling and Peterson takes a step forward while Bailey builds on his first outing, the Jazz could come away from this second preseason look with a much clearer picture of where those three fit.
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Utah also will be without Kyle Filipowski, Jusuf Nurkic and Brice Sensabaugh, leaving the coaching staff to spread minutes around and get a different look at the rest of the roster. For a team still trying to settle its preseason rhythm, the missing bodies turn this into a useful test of depth, even if the Jazz would clearly prefer to have one of their primary offensive pieces on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
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Hayes shoved Jokic during the sequence, and Jokic answered with a hard foul before drawing a technical for shoving back, turning a routine preseason game into a flashpoint online. For Utah, it was another reminder that even in October, emotions can spill quickly when physical play gets the better of the moment, and fans were left arguing about both the officiating and the conduct long after the final buzzer. [Read more 🡒]
Jazz Fans Can Finally See Why Last Season Had To Happen
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Oklahoma City, meanwhile, kept turning those kinds of advantages into more future currency. The Thunder already had a lottery pick from the Clippers in the Paul George trade and used it on Aday Mara, who has flashed enough promise to make the idea even more frustrating for Utah fans. From the Jazz perspective, last season was never just about the present. It was about making sure the Thunders stockpile did not get any deeper. [Read more 🡒]