5 questions for the 2025-26 Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz are just days away from training camp opening and less than a month out from the start of the 2025-26 season.

Even so, there are plenty of unanswered questions about this team. Some answers will be revealed through training camp and the preseason, but some will unfold and be answered slowly as the season progresses. Today, we’ll go through the five biggest questions for the Jazz as we gear up for a new season.

What’s in store for Ace Bailey?

The No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 draft has already excited the fanbase with his potential, but that excitement means that there are about a million questions swirling around in the minds of fans.

What position will Bailey play? Will he be in the starting lineup? How is his rookie season going to go? Will it be better or on par with what Donovan Mitchell did in his rookie season? How much is he going to play on the ball? What will NBA competition reveal about where he needs to improve?

Excitement breeds expectation, and there is certainly a lot of that where Bailey is concerned.

Speaking of the starting lineup ...

Who will be starting for the Jazz when the 2025-26 season tips off?

Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler are locks for the Jazz’s starting five, but after that there are going to be some interesting competitions. A lot of it is going to depend on how head coach Will Hardy wants to experiment with players in different positions.

I would think that Kyle Filipowski has a good chance of starting at the four and that the Jazz will be bringing Taylor Hendricks along slowly. But is Hendricks more of a three? Does that put him in competition or behind Markkanen and Bailey? If Bailey is going to play more on the wing, could he be competing for the starting two job? Then, who is the starting point guard? Is it between Walter Clayton Jr. and Isaiah Collier? Where do Brice Sensabaugh and Keyonte George fit in?

And the question of who will start leads us to the next couple of questions.

What does the overall rotation look like, and what does it mean for the vets?

Generally, everyone is intrigued to know what the Jazz’s rotations will look like, which can only be answered once the starting lineup is ironed out. But many are also wondering what kind of playing time to expect from players like Georges Niang, Jusuf Nurkic, Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love.

First thing that will need to be answered is, are all of these players going to be on the roster on opening night? It seems pretty certain that Niang, Nurkic and Anderson will be here — at least to start the season. Love is still looking for a buyout destination, and his status on the team could change even before training camp begins.

But the Jazz aren’t looking to prolong or reinvigorate the careers of Anderson or Nurkic. They want to develop the young players and give them as much playing time as possible. Of course, some development is done best when playing on the court with more seasoned players, so there will need to be a mix. How much of a mix Hardy will employ is what we’re waiting to find out.

What happens if the Jazz win a little too much?

This is a question that certainly won’t be answered before the season begins, and we may never get the answer.

If the Jazz are on track for another losing season even as Hardy plays the best roster rotation available to him, and the team is able to keep it’s top-8 protected pick away from the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, then all will be well in Jazzland.

But, if the Jazz are just a little bit too good to be one of the worst teams this season, will the front office step in to manipulate the results?

This should (in theory) be the last season that the Jazz are purposefully hunting a high draft pick, which will be music to the ears of those who just want to see the team try to win no matter what. And that might even happen this season — they might not be good enough to win even when they try. But will Hardy and the players truly be left alone and allowed to fight with all their might?

Will Lauri Markkanen be here the whole season?

At least for this question, we know that there’s a deadline for the answer. The NBA trade deadline is on Feb. 5 this season, and it will mark whether Markkanen will remain a Jazz man for the duration of the 2025-26 season.

But, even if Markkanen is on the roster past the trade deadline, it won’t quiet the rumors and questions. He’ll remain a hot topic of conversation as people look toward the 2026 offseason.

The Jazz have publicly and privately maintained that they would love for Markkanen to be a huge part of the team’s future. That being said, if another team were to come along with the right offer, that sentiment could change.