The Utah Jazz have now dropped to a 1-4 record to start their 2026-27 campaign after a 111-117 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on their home floor in the Delta Center.
While of course, dropping four of five games to start off any season is far from an ideal beginning to the year, this game shouldn’t be considered a disaster for the Jazz by any means.
In a game where Utah was forced without their two best players in Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr., this young roster clawed their way to an overtime battle against the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs, and were just a few key plays away in that extra period from turning the tides, and making the end result look a bit better than it winds up as.
Yet, the Jazz came up short, now falling to an early fourth loss of the year in this one. But it was in this game where we were still able to gather some noteworthy takeaways about some players around this Utah roster.
With that, let’s break down everything we learned from the Jazz’s latest loss to San Antonio on Wednesday night:
Yes, Keyonte George Has Taken Another Step Forward
This game wasn’t all perfect for George. He had some decision-making question marks and five turnovers that could’ve been avoided and made his performance look even better than how it ended up.
But in a game without Markkanen or Jackson Jr., George felt the pressure to step up as the Jazz’s leader on the offensive end, and delivered for one of his best performances of the season: 31 points with five three-pointers made, four rebounds and three assists in a total of 37 minutes.
His shot-making from all three levels showed itself in a big way, which was highly important in a shorthanded matchup like this one. If George can just clean up the turnover issues and close out games a bit more effectively, there’s even more room to grow moving forward.
There’s Still Some Growing Pains to Work Through
The Jazz pulled through in the fourth quarter to extend this game to overtime with tough shot-making and a resilient back-and-forth against the reigning Western Conference champions. But it didn’t take long for Utah’s youth and overall inexperience to rear its ugly head within that extra time.
Turnovers. Transition defense. Missed shots. Even some questionable rotation decisions from Will Hardy all factored into the Jazz simply running out of gas within those last five minutes of the game. The Spurs would quickly go on a 12-0 run after Utah made the first shot of overtime, and they wouldn’t ever look back.
On one hand, to see the Jazz survive to this extent against as talented of a team as the Spurs are, that’s a nice positive to take away.
However, the issues that seeped through for Utah in the final minutes will certainly show up on film after the fact, and give Utah some clear areas to grow in so they can execute in these situations moving forward.
The Jazz Should’ve Extended Brice Sensabaugh Yesterday
While we’ve seen more explosive performances from Sensabaugh in the past, the way in which he was able to create his own shot and be an offensive generator really shined in a night where the Jazz were without two of their top scorers due to injury, combined with some offensive struggles from Darryn Peterson.
And it’s gotten to the point for Sensabaugh where there are some early questions of whether or not the Jazz should’ve just extended their young wing to a new contract this offseason, rather than wait for him to now seemingly increase his price tag even further than what it was before.
Sensabaugh was the Jazz’s leading scorer off the bench with 16 points while making four of his five attempts from beyond the arc, and was a key part in willing Utah to an overtime period against San Antonio in the first place.
If he continues to play like this, not only will he continue to find a bigger role within the rotation in no time, but a quality pay raise on his second contract will be much easier to obtain from the Jazz later this offseason.
Svi Mykhailiuk Could Be Playing His Way Out of the Rotation
It hasn’t been the start to the season that Svi Mykhailiuk would’ve hoped for. Not just for the Jazz as a whole, but for his individual production as well,
Mykhailiuk had another poor night shooting the ball for the Jazz. He made just one of his six total attempts from the field, made one of five shots from beyond the arc, and finished with just three points in the 14 minutes he played coming off the bench.
Mykhailiuk was a key rotational piece for the Jazz last season thanks to his seamless off-the-ball presence and his stout three-point shooting. However, you’re already beginning to see the beginning signs of Utah stripping away some of his usual minutes, and potentially phasing him out of the rotation soon if his production can’t turn around in the right direction.
Every good shooter is bound to have their slumps––even Mykhailiuk, who shot over 40% from three when he played last year. But if his shot doesn’t turn around over the course of the next few games or weeks, Will Hardy’s hand might be forced to make a chance surrounding the involvement of one of his favorite role players.
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