Jazz win 3rd preseason game, but Keyonte George knee injury looms over team
by Nathan Dunn, KSL.com · KSL.comEstimated read time: 3-4 minutes
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The Utah Jazz secured their third preseason victory with a 107-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks, highlighted by Lauri Markkanen's standout performance scoring 26 points.
- Despite the triumph, the game was overshadowed by a knee injury sustained by Keyonte George, who initially impressed with 14 points and strong shooting before being forced off the court.
- George's injury casts uncertainty over the Jazz's point guard situation, given their current depth challenges, and potential further tests may clarify his long-term availability.
DALLAS — The Utah Jazz are off to a 3-0 start in the preseason.
A 107-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night showcased extreme highs and lows for a developing team that had two first-round picks in the latest draft.
Utah, who held as much as a 20-point lead in the third quarter, held on late in the fourth to defeat the Luka Doncic-less Mavericks.
Lauri Markkanen continued to be the $238 million player the Jazz signed him for in the offseason, despite rumors he could be traded. He had 26 points on 47% shooting in 29 minutes of play for the Jazz, paired with seven boards.
But through the first half, it was the Keyonte George show.
The second year player out of Baylor was lethal from deep, connecting on 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc — including nailing a 3-pointer over the Mavericks big man Derick Lively. George had 14 points, along with three rebounds in the effort.
But it was nearly a disastrous night for George.
After attempting to bring the ball up the court, George performed a cross over move in an effort to shake his defender, but slipped and grabbed toward his left leg.
What initially started as George reaching for his ankle, he immediately covered his face and pointed toward his left knee. George was nearly carried off the floor by Jazz personnel and was brought to the locker room where he did not return.
The Jazz announced shortly after that George was diagnosed with a mild left knee sprain, though it is expected that additional tests will be done to determine the severity of the injury.
The 2024 second team all-rookie selection scored 13 points per game for Utah last season and found his way into the starting lineup, starting 44 of 75 total games for the Jazz last season.
A long-term injury to George could put pressure on the Jazz, which is already thin at the point guard position.
After Kris Dunn found his way to the LA Clippers, the Jazz brought in coveted veteran Patty Mills and drafted Isaiah Collier out of USC in the draft. The guard after Mills and Collier would be Jason Preston, who appeared in seven games for the Jazz last year, scoring 1.7 points per game.
Despite the injury to George, there were positives from Collier, who scored 3 points but led the team in assists with seven in 23 minutes of play, the most out of any bench player.
"Isaiah has shown us during camp and during these preseason games that his decision-making probably exceeds his age," head coach Will Hardy said about Collier. "It's not just the passes when he is on the perimeter that are impressive, its the ones that he takes down hill and drops off."
Collier dished out six assists and three steals in the Jazz win over the New Zealand Breakers last week, and followed it up with another three steal performance over Houston.
Another bright spot this preseason has been Walker Kessler, who had a sophomore slump of sorts, nearly regressing in every statistical category from Year 1. Against the Mavericks, Kessler put up 9 points and 15 rebounds in just 24 minutes of play, impacting both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
"Kessler has had an amazing offseason of work, not only on his game but his body," Hardy said. "He is much stronger and you can see it when he is digging out rebounds in traffic. His physicality around the rim has been really helpful for us and he understood what he needed to do after two seasons to improve."
Kessler also recorded two blocks in the win, one of them coming on a dunk attempt by 7-foot-5 center Jamarion Sharp in the fourth quarter.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.