The Utah Jazz pulled out all the stops to get closer to their ultimate goal of a high lottery pick during Friday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans— and it turned out working in their favor.

After seeing six of their players on the injury report, three of them being regular starters in Lauri Markkanen (back), John Collins (hip), and Walker Kessler (rest), the Jazz fell to the Pelicans, 123-136 to drop to a 10-30 record on the regular season.

While a 10-30 record is far from optically appealing for competition purposes, Jazz fans are likely pleased to see how their lottery chances have shifted due to the loss.

According to Tankathon, the Jazz have jumped to top-three odds for this offseason’s draft lottery– effectively giving Utah a 52.1% chance at a top-four pick, and a 14.0% chance for the number one pick if the season were to end today.

Obviously, the season still has a ways to go– over halfway to go to be precise. But, in terms of the long-term implications this may have for the Jazz, this team is on the right track for the ultimate goal of this year and the offseason: maximize their draft position for grade-A young talent.

The Jazz don’t have to totally bottom out to get premier odds for this offseason’s lottery. Following the 2019 NBA draft, the bottom three teams in the league standings were given tied odds of 14% for that coveted number one pick.

So far, Utah hasn’t stooped as low as the Washington Wizards or the Toronto Raptors have in the standings this season, but they don’t need to. All the Jazz need to do for strong odds at claiming that top spot is staying in those last three spots within the standings. That’s exactly what they’ve done as of Friday.

And looking ahead to their next month of games, the road doesn’t look easy. After the Jazz’s Monday rematch vs. the Pelicans, Utah won’t have another contest against a team above .500 until February 24th, when the Portland Trail Blazers travel to Salt Lake City.

A gauntlet lies ahead on the schedule, making for a tough watch for Jazz players and fans alike looking for wins on the board. Yet, for those aspiring for a tank to be underway for the best chances of securing Cooper Flagg, this is exactly what you’re looking for.

Buckle up Jazz fans, things could get bumpy over the coming weeks. But remember, the light is always the darkest before dawn.

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The Utah Jazz move to (10-30) after a (123-136) loss to the (11-32) New Orleans Pelicans. A late scratch to Walker Kessler and the that void was noticeable.

Game Overview

1st Quarter

The First Quarter was underway and the Pelicans were just dominating Utah on both ends of the floor. CJ McCollum started 5-5 from three and put up a quick 15 points before missing his first shot of the game. The early scratch to Kessler meant that defending the paint was going to be a team effort and through the first quarter, Zion and Dejounte Murray were exposing that paint. On offense, Collin Sexton was the only one to really get any points for Utah, but most of those were from the stripe. The Pelicans were quicker to every ball and caused Utah 5 turnovers in the quarter. The first quarter ended with Utah(22) to New Orleans(42).

2nd Quarter

The Second Quarter started like the first and the pace of the Pelican’s play was extremely quick. The passing and kickouts to the three absolutely killed Utah in this first half and Utah’s defense was just not quick enough to close out. The Jazz did have their fair share of open shots but didn’t start hitting them until the 8-minute mark where Utah then went on a 11-0 run. At this point, we started to see some life in the Jazz and the defensive intensity started to improve as well. The half ended with Utah(52) to New Orleans(61).

3rd Quarter

Coming out of the break the Pelicans got out to an early 10-0 run until Collin Sexton got the first buckets of the quarter for Utah. Drew Eubanks had a strong performance on the defensive end being an absolute wall against Zion and you could see a noticeable difference to when he was in vs out. Daniel Theis’ known big man shooter was hurting the Jazz with his three ball. The quarter ended with Utah(80) to New Orleans(96).

4th Quarter

The final quarter was underway and it looked like the Pelicans were told to buckle up on defense because Jose Alvarado was full-court pressing Utah to start the quarter. It worked. The Jazz went cold on offense. The Pelicans took advantage, led by Zion who started to become more of a presence and dominated, nothing Drew Eubanks could do. The three-ball was also going in the Pelican’s favor and it just seemed like they couldn’t miss. The game ended with Utah losing(123) to New Orleans(136).

Game Recap: for Dummies, Casuals, and Hoop Nerds

Go to where you think fits your basketball knowledge best, If you need help knowing which section to go to, no worries let me help.

Recap for Dummies: These are for fans learning the sport of basketball or just giving the sport a chance. Excited to have you, and props to you for joining at such an interesting time of the franchise.

Recap for Casuals: This section is for the fans who don’t care about advanced stats and just enjoy the product on the court. It’s also for fans who don’t catch every game but are just curious how the team’s doing once in a while, or wanting to know how the team did against a big name like tonight in Zion Williamson.

Recap for Hoop Nerds: This section is for the diehards of Jazz Basketball. These are the people who catch every Hoops Nerd live stream and have followed the Utah Jazz their whole life. The people who have been through thick and thin. The athletes who thought they were good enough to go pro or coach in the league but had to turn down the offers for the betterment of their “family.”

Recap For Dummies

One of the biggest factors of this game was the Pelican’s ability to drive and kick out extremely well against the Jazz.

A drive and kick out is when an attacking player attacks the paint in hopes of drawing attention from defenders which then gives the attacking player an open person to pass the ball out to usually over the three-point line.

Dejounte Murray did this extremely well which led to Utah not being able to stop the defender(close out) quickly enough. This led to the Pelicans having a field day from three early on in the game.

Another factor that changed this game was the amount of offensive rebounds the Pelicans were able to have.

Offensive rebounds are a big way teams get into big leads, these rebounds lead to second-chance points and a restart on the 24-second shot clock which gives you another opportunity to score on the offensive end.

A big part of why New Orleans was having such high success on the rebound matchup was because Utah was missing third-year Center Walker Kessler. Kessler, who was an early scratch for the game, has been having a career year. At the moment he has a strong argument for being the team’s best player at the moment.

Recap For Casuals

The Utah Jazz are now (3-7) but for a rebuilding team like Utah most of these games have been great for the team’s development.

From a watchability standpoint, Sexton will always have to be up there. His first game back from injury and man was he electric. He is physical and always has an extremely strong work ethic. Sexton has been having a career year and that’s why other teams around the league are keeping an eye on the Young Bull.

Not a great night from 9th overall pick Cody Williams who is still trying to find himself in the league. Williams spent a lot of time in the G-League this season but recently has been playing consistent minutes with the first team. But if we keep it real, he was absolutely invisible. Not what you want to see from your 9th overall pick almost halfway through the season.

For New Orleans, Zion only played 22 minutes and dominated in 19 of those 22. The Pelicans are still bringing Williamson back to full fitness after being out for most of this season. But man was that 4th quarter dominant.

It looked like the team was saving his energy for that quarter and holy crap he’s a freak of nature who just needs to stay healthy.

A shoutout does need to be given to Drew Eubanks who tried his best and did have some good stops. The score would have looked worse if he wasn’t down there tonight.

Recap For Hoop Nerds

Holy Crap New Orleans absolutely cooked Utah from three tonight. The Pelicans shot 44% from three tonight to Utah’s 34.2%.

The Pelicans three-point runs were crazy starting with CJ McCollum beginning the game with a quick 15 going (5-5) from three before missing his first of the game. Then Jose Alvarado and company looked like a game of 2k in the fourth quarter scorching the net.

Besides that Utah was pretty close in most of the stats. Just shows why teams favor the three-ball so much more.

New Orleans also outrebounded Utah (64-49) with 21 of those coming from the offensive end. Walker Kessler you were missed. But Drew Eubanks did hold his own for most of the game and ended up with 17 points, 4 blocks, and 7 rebounds.

Another thing that absolutely destroyed Utah tonight was transition. Every time the Pelicans grabbed a rebound it looked like 3 of them were already down the court.

Cody Williams put up zero points, and had a -31 plus minus, just gonna leave it at that, don’t look at my preview.

Svi Mykhailiuk shot 3-10 from three but ended with 16 points.

Collier didn’t have a bad game. Had 8 points and 11 assists. Collier could very easily be getting double-doubles every game if he stays on this trajectory and just continues his growth on the offensive end.

Players that need to be traded yesterday

As much as Sexton’s fun to watch and a great guy by the way. Get this man to a contender ASAP!!! Give those minutes back to Collier. There’s no reason to play him for 31 minutes and I’m so sick of his hero ball sometimes.

Also if that rumor about Clarkson to Dallas is true I could see that being a great fit for him. He would also be on a contender so I would really like to see that happen.

Was this good for the tank?

Absolutely! With this loss, The Pelicans now jump Utah and with the Hornets winning today Utah’s lottery odds just jumped drastically. If Utah keeps up how they’ve been playing and the right moves happen by the trade deadline we could be seeing a lot of development and minutes the second half of the season.

If you enjoy this format and are interested to learn about Hockey and the newest NHL franchise in Utah. Check out Brogan Houston(Writer for Desert News about the Utah Hockey Club) who gave me this idea! He’s an absolute amazing source for newcomers to the sport and an amazing writer.

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/01/17/utah-hockey-club-loses-5-3-to-new-york-rangers/ Link to most recent game recap.

Next Game

Who: Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans

When: January 20th, 6:00PM Mountain Time

Where: Smoothie King Center- New Orleans, LA

Watch: Jazz+, KJZZ

SALT LAKE CITY — The Beehive State could one day be even more involved in the space industry.

State Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, is sponsoring a bill that would establish a Spaceport Exploration Committee.

That committee would seek out a potential spot for a spaceport in the state and recommend it to lawmakers if they felt it made sense for Utah, according to the current bill text. 

Stevenson told KSL NewsRadio with Utah’s current resources for a potential leap to the space launches, like the state’s military bases and the West Desert, “It just seemed like kind of a natural place for us to take a step.”

Stevenson also noted Utah’s current role in space exploration, including most recently in September 2023 when NASA’s OSIRIS-REx capsule, containing material from an asteroid, ended its seven-year journey with a touchdown on the Utah Test and Training Range in the West Desert.

However, Stevenson said he doesn’t see Utah replacing Cape Canaveral or another major player in the space industry. Rather, he feels Utah has the space and the resources to launch satellites or other things from a large aircraft or maybe even a medium-sized rocket.

As to where this spaceport could be, “It could be at any airport that has the capability of… moving a larger airplane into the air,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson said the goal of this legislation is to create good jobs for Utahns. If the bill passes and Utah did one day have a spaceport, he feels that would accomplish the goal.

“Whoever thought we’d be where we are with this stuff now 30 years ago?” Stevenson said.

The bill is seeking $500,000 in one-time funding from the Legislature. If passed, it would take effect on May 7 of this year.

More on the upcoming legislative session:

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