Impact Players from Utah’s preseason win over Denver

The grid-bound streets of Salt Lake City are ablaze — the Utah Jazz have won an NBA basketball game.

Shout it from the rooftops, sing it from the mountains: the Utah Jazz are a winning basketball team once again. But maybe leave out the fact that this was a meaningless preseason game in which most of the starters were pulled by halftime.

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It’s an odd feeling to have a basketball game turned on its head like this. Typically, the first and second quarters are the least interesting half of any given contest, with the stakes truly setting in as we approach the final buzzer. In the preseason, when the result of the game is meaningless, it’s quite the opposite.

We got to see Will Hardy’s first starting lineup of the year: Keyonte George and Darryn Peterson at the guard line, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. holding down the forward slots, and Jusuf Nurkic anchoring the center position in Walker Kessler’s absence.

We got our first taste of Darryn Peterson against legitimate NBA talent (even if it still took place on a college court). We witnessed Will Hardy’s dynamic offense function without restraint. We even got a Mo Bamba Sighting (TM). And though the result of the game was largely irrelevant for the final 24 minutes, we saw the Utah Jazz build and maintain a lead against an NBA Finals contender and the current best player on the planet, Nikola Jokic.

No one is counting preseason wins, but everyone will take stock of individual performances.

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In my eyes, three Jazzmen deserve the lion’s share of acclaim for Sunday night’s success.

3 Utah Jazz Impact Players vs. Denver (10/4):

Lauri Markkanen

Stats: 17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

Lauri Markkanen is the rock of this Utah Jazz team. Utah’s success is largely predicated on Markkanen’s effectiveness as a scorer and defender, and what we witnessed on the basketball floor of the University of Colorado, Boulder, was nothing short of vintage.

He hit 3 of his 7 three-point attempts, and attacked the basket early and often. Was it his most efficient shooting night ever? No, 5-12 is only fine for a player of his caliber, but he scored 17 points in 16…

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Publish date : 2026-10-05 02:43:00

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