While a lot of the discussion on the Utah Jazz’s development and progression centers around their young talent and recent draftees, that doesn’t mean the veteran pieces on this roster won’t be eyeing their own set of improvements to make across the off-months of this summer.

Lauri Markkanen is no exception, who comes off his third year with the Jazz during his age-27 season, and has proven in past offseason periods of his career that a strong leap for his game in the summer is wildly possible, as shown during his 2023 Most Improved Player campaign after bursting onto the scene after his stint with the Finland national team.

Looking ahead to the coming offseason, Markkanen will be looking to make another jump in his game. This time, that progression will focus on his shot-creating ability, end-game shot-making, and in his own words, he’ll still look to “work on everything.”

“Just keep getting better at the end-of-game and isolation stuff,” Markkanen said. “I know it’s going to come down to that. It’s the same answer every year: work on everything. Tighten the handle up a little better, and again, getting [further] out of my comfort zone with shots. I feel like I shot a lot of tougher shots than I’ve done in the past. The window’s kind of smaller, everybody knows you can shoot. Doing that off the dribble and stuff like that, those are the big things I’ll be working on.”

Markkanen finished his last season with Utah putting some of his lower numbers since coming to the Jazz during the 2022 summer. In 47 games, he put up 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists on 42.3% shooting from the field a night. Still, nice numbers to emerge as the team’s leading scorer in the stat sheet, but not quite on par with his averages from the past two seasons.

For this offseason, it’ll be a big one for Markkanen to get healthy from his injury-riddled year and get back to the dominant form Jazz fans know their star forward for. Perhaps another stint with the Finnish national team during FIBA play this summer can spark that play in the right direction, and with it, reinforce himself as a centerpiece for Utah’s long-spanning rebuild.

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Running back Micah Bernard, who led the Utah Utes with 1,009 yards rushing in 2024, signed a free agent deal with the Tennessee Titans shortly after the NFL Draft ended.

If he makes the final roster, he’ll be teammates with Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Titans were 3-14 last year. 

Bernard is 6-0, 206 pounds and has been clocked at 4.38 in the 40-yard dash. 

He played in 51 games at Utah with 23 starts, including 22 at running back and one at cornerback. He finished with 2,217 yards rushing (5.3-yard average) and 11 touchdowns. His 1,009 yards last season — which included four touchdowns — ranked seventh in the Big 12 and was the 21st 1,000-yard performance in school history. 

He had six career 100-yard games, four of them coming last year. 

He also had 30 catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns. In his career, he had 99 catches for 770 yards and five scores. 

MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS

After a warm start to the weekend, a storm system moves in on Sunday. This will drop temperatures and bring valley rain with mountain snow for northern and central Utah. Isolated thunderstorms are possible as well with scattered showers continuing on through Monday. Temperatures will rebound with a few isolated rain showers for northern Utah on Wednesday.

Salt Lake City:
Sunday- Mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. High: 61
Sunday Night- Mostly cloudy with a chance for rain. Low: 42
Monday- Scattered rain. High: 59

St. George:
Sunday- Mostly Sunny and breezy. High: 66
Sunday Night- Clear. Low: 46
Monday- Sunny skies and warmer. High 72