Utah Jazz's Starting Lineup Given Failing Grade

The Utah Jazz enter the 2025-26 season with clear expectations: develop the young talent, get a hold of their top-eight-protected first-round pick in the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and add even more high-end young talent at the top of the lottery next summer.

For the long term, that's a pretty solid plan to get this Jazz roster one step closer to being on the brink of contention. However, when looking forward to what type of season may be on the horizon in the short term, it might not be too pretty for Utah.

And in the mind of Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes, those concerns might just begin at the starting lineup.

Hughes recently sorted through and graded each NBA team's projected starting lineup just a couple of months away from the start of the next season. But when it came to the Jazz's five-man lineup: Collier, George, Bailey, Markkanen, and Kessler, their turnout wasn't too generous. They got an F.

"Markkanen and Kessler are the only sure things here, with Collier probably ranking third in terms of starting job security—even after a rough Summer League showing underscored concerns about his ball security and shooting," Hughes wrote. "No matter who's out there with Markkanen and Kessler, the Jazz are going to be overmatched."

"Collier has his strengths as a driver and setup man, but defenses don't have to guard him honestly on the perimeter...Kessler can erase a lot of mistakes, but even he won't be able to stop the cascade of points allowed by the other four players out there with him. Bailey probably doesn't deserve a starting gig on merit, but he's the franchise's current best shot at a cornerstone and should be allowed to play and grow through his mistakes."

"Losing will again be the goal in Utah this season, and all the youth on the roster will ensure every imaginable starting five gets a nightly pummeling."

The younger Jazz starting five is, on one hand, refreshing to see from the Jazz compared to previous years of this rebuild.

Guys like Ace Bailey, Isaiah Collier, and Keyonte George will have tons of opportunity to be considerable offensive playmakers next to Lauri Markkanen, who returns as perhaps the only veteran primed to get run on a nightly basis. Walker Kessler, on the defensive end, will also have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.

On another hand, though, in a Western Conference in which virtually every team has a chance to make at least a run for the Play-In Tournament, with star talent all around, the Jazz have an uphill climb to make a push for anything close to a top-ten seed, unless we see a major breakout for multiple players around the roster.