The Utah Jazz are 1-4, and that kind of start is never pretty. It is also not a reason to hit the panic button just yet.
Coming into the season, Utah knew there would be a learning curve with Darryn Peterson joining the mix and Jaren Jackson Jr. being folded into the roster. The expectation was that the team would have to work through some growing pains.
The part that has made this stretch feel tougher is that the trouble has not looked exactly like what anyone drew up. Injuries hit before the season even began, and the list has only gotten longer.
Even with the losses piling up, there has been something in the way the Jazz have competed that keeps the mood from turning sour. Outside of Opening Night, they have not gone quietly. They have been in the fight every time.
That is part of why this early slide feels familiar rather than fatal. Utah has seen this movie before, and the first year of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era offers a clear reminder. The 2017-18 season opened in rocky fashion, too, with untimely injuries to key players such as Rudy Gobert helping make the Jazz look like the team many expected after the departure of Gordon Hayward.
Gobert missed multiple stretches early that season, and Utah was sitting at 17-27 when he finally got healthy in January 2018. Once the team had its full group back, the turnaround was dramatic. The Jazz finished 48-34, going 31-7 after getting a clean bill of health.
For a while, that year looked bleak. Then the roster got right, Mitchell showed he was a building block, and the pieces started fitting together.
That is the same basic reason there is no need to overreact now. It is still October.
An 82-game season leaves plenty of room for a team to settle in.
The schedule has not exactly offered much breathing room, either. Memphis may be better than expected, and the Lakers and the Spurs have already been part of the mix. Those are teams with two of the NBA’s best players and playoff ambitions of their own, which means Utah has not been handed any easy outs.
What has stood out is how narrow these losses have been. That can wear on a team, but it can also tell you something important: the Jazz are not shrinking from the moment. They are getting valuable reps with their youth, and those are the kinds of minutes that matter later when more of the load falls on them.
There will likely be more difficult nights ahead with Jaren Jackson Jr. out for the next several weeks, though Lauri Markkanen could return as soon as this weekend. Even so, the early rough patch does not have to define the season. The Jazz have been through a similar stretch before, and that team eventually found its footing.
In Other News...
Blazers Fans Have Another Robert Williams Concern To Watch
Rookie guard Darryn Peterson gave the Jazz a boost in their loss to San Antonio, scoring 18 points in 26 minutes, but he was left on the bench for the final seven minutes and overtime. Utah coach Will Hardy said the late-game choice came down to the way the team was executing, and he leaned toward reserve wing Brice Sensabaugh in that spot.
For Portland, that kind of personnel decision only adds to the list of things worth monitoring. Robert Williams already sat out a game with a sore knee, and the Trail Blazers have had enough injury uncertainty to make every absence feel larger than it should. With Ja Morant leaving early with a left hamstring injury and Nikola Jokic reaching his 200th regular season triple-double in a win over New Orleans, the night around the league offered plenty of reminders that health and availability can shift a teams outlook fast. [Read more 🡒]
Darryn Peterson Has A Real Chance As Jazz Wait For More
Darryn Petersons first stretch with the Jazz has looked like what it usually looks like when a young guard is asked to learn on the fly: some hesitation, some mistakes, and enough flashes to keep the staff interested. The rookie has started to look more comfortable with each game, playing with a little more confidence as Utah continues to sort through its early-season rotation and try to develop a player it believes can grow into a real piece.
The numbers reflect both sides of that equation. Peterson is averaging 12.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting about 35 percent from the field and from deep, a line that fits the growing pains of a first-year guard rather than a finished product. With more chances in front of him, the message from the Jazz has been simple: keep learning, keep pushing, and keep attacking instead of waiting for the game to come to him. [Read more 🡒]
Jazz Already Have Early Winners And Losers In This Rotation
The Jazz are only five games into the 2026-27 season, but the early shape of the rotation is already starting to come into focus. At 1-4, Utah has had enough uneven stretches for individual play to stand out, and a few players have taken advantage. Ace Bailey has looked noticeably better on the defensive end while also helping on the glass, while Keyonte George has given the group a more confident scorer and a steadier voice on the floor.
The other side of that coin is just as important for a team still trying to settle its backcourt and wing minutes. Isaiah Collier and Svi Mykhailiuk have both had a rough go of it early, and the lack of consistent shooting has made it harder for either player to carve out a secure role. For a Jazz team already sorting through early-season losses, those kinds of growing pains can turn a crowded rotation into a very short one in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]