Bleacher Report Reveals Jazz's 'Worst Nightmare' for Next NBA Season

What if things don't go the Utah Jazz's way during the 2024-25 NBA campaign?

Feb 27, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) handles the ball against the Atlanta Hawks in the first quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz clearly have shown to have a plan in place for their methodical and long-winded rebuild process, but what happens if things go off the rails next season?

While the Jazz and their front office have done a solid job across the past two offseasons stacking new talent in the fold, there's still an outside shot this coming season doesn't go quite according to expectations. The league changes quickly, and with a few shakeups, Utah could be in for a much different campaign than they've inianticipate.

When shaking out each team's "worst nightmare" for the coming NBA season, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report dove into what may be the most dreadful outcome for the Jazz-- labeled as "this team isn't built to lose quickly enough...again."

Favale goes on to explain how the outlook could get bleak for the Jazz, pounding the table for Utah to "actively avoid the play-in chase":

"Utah has managed to spit out an above-.500 record more than halfway into each of the past two seasons. That is a testament to (underestimated) talent, an at-times enthralling play style, and the voodoo of head coach Will Hardy. It is also hugely inconvenient. The Jazz have needed to actively avoid the play-in chase on both occasions. It hasn't particularly mattered. They selected ninth overall in 2023 and then 10th in 2024. Outperforming expectations is fine when you have your linchpin of the future. Utah does not."

- Dan Favale, Bleacher Report

Kicking the tires on the operation from day one of the season is a route the Jazz have failed to lean into across the past two years of their rebuild, but looking ahead to their next campaign, it's a plan that could immensely benefit Utah in the long-term, even if there are some apparent growing pains in the process.

The Jazz have a significant amount of young talent on hand for this next year, and by handing the keys to the youth movement earlier in the season than their past two showings, it can effectively give them a complimentary chance to show out and develop, and also potentially giving Utah some bolstered odds in next summer's lottery.

Considering the caliber of the draft that lies ahead for the 2025 class, an addition of a top-five pick next offseason could be what takes this rebuild to the next level, but it's much more difficult to accomplish if the Jazz over-perform to land themselves within the mid-to-late lottery as they have for the 2022 and 2023 drafts.

Investing heavily into the youth movement may not be the most pretty outcome, but it may be what needs to be done to get this Jazz roster back to postseason contention. A few ideal building blocks have been put in place with guys like Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams, and Walker Kessler, and by feeding them more opportunities, this rebuild will continue to keep trending up.

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