CAN WE BE HONEST with each other for a moment? Last year’s Utah Jazz season was … challenging.
There’s no way to sugar-coat a 17-win season where Coach Hardy was tasked with fielding some of the least competitive lineups one could conceive. The strategy has been drafted with the end in mind — at the harrowing expense of the present.
But this is the pickled herring the Utah Jazz begrudgingly stomached when they detonated a playoff-standard depth chart for a total renovation. Vile and inedible as it
may seem, the powers that be deemed a from-the-ground-up renovation to be the only way forward.
Through surprise success and suboptimal development, three years of the expedition have been endured. Provisions are depleted. The biting cold at the base of the summit cautions of the conditions of the climb. Steep cliffs. Setbacks. The unescapable fear of a premature collapse. This brave team of explorers squares their shoulders to the path ahead, accepting that before they can ascend, they’ll spend another season at the bottom. Preparing. Scavenging. Training. Gathering adequate courage for the intrepid journey before them.
The 2025-26 NBA schedule has been released for public consumption. Go ahead and take a sample — I won’t mind. But as your waiter, I feel it’s my responsibility to properly guide you through this delicious smattering of Utah Jazz basketball we see before us.
I won’t stand here and pretend that the year will be one to remember. Beyond a few fun introductions and reunions, the win total may be eerily similar to that of last year’s body of work, but for those with an open mind, the 2025 season may just introduce some treasured bursts of fanatic euphoria. Yes, there’s a little something for everyone, even though the team’s Yelp reviews have been a touch unsavory over the past few seasons — we’ve been in a dark place.
Let us say grace, and dig in.
Utah Jazz Viewer’s Guide
Before you are three genres of viewership appetizers: milestone, reunion, and wild card. Each will be properly analyzed in its time, but for every fan, there rests a reason they’ll be sitting in front of their couch watching a half-baked basketball team take the floor of an honest-to-goodness NBA-scheduled matchup.
Do you need trail posts for key periods of the season? We’ve marked the path in the Milestone Section.
Are you thrilled to see the return of a departed member of the Jazz family? Take a gander at the Reunion Section.
Curious about my professionally-appraised selection of contests for the year? An excellent choice. To the Wild Card Section with you, you aficionado.
Are you itching to learn about the tastiest apples for the harvest season? You’re at the wrong place. I can’t believe it took you this long to figure that out.
Season Milestones
Opening Night – October 22, 2025
Opponent: Los Angeles Clippers
Opening night: the first tip-off of the year. The first shot. The first score. The first time you’ll scream at the inanimate television in your living room. It’s a beautiful moment, and we only get one of them per year. Embrace the moment. Absorb the feeling.
For two players on the roster, however, this will be their first taste of NBA basketball. For Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr., this night marks a lifelong dream finally fulfilled, and a chance to showcase their talents in real professional minutes. Maybe Jon Tonje, too, who knows?
Finally, this night marks the birth of a new era in team branding. Mountain basketball at its finest, the new purple-popping, baby blue-crested uniforms will put the final nail in the coffin for the hideous eyesore that was yellow and black. Long live mountain basketball.
The NBA Cup Begins – October 31, 2025
Opponent: Phoenix Suns
The NBA Cup technically provides an opportunity for the Jazz to compete for a championship. Sure, it’s a long shot that almost certainly won’t come to fruition. The special edition court designs will likely be hideous yet again. And yes, I understand that the NBA community has yet to place any historical significance on the trophy, since the postseason crown remains the only meaningful prize of the year if we’re being candid.
But for at least this night, the Utah Jazz are competitors with a non-zero chance of raising a banner. Especially when their first matchup is against one of the worst-run organizations in the sport.
Don’t hold your breath, though.
Final Game Before the Deadline – February 3, 2026
Opponent: Indiana Pacers
The Utah Jazz, in their current state, are one of the most exciting franchises in the final moments leading up to the NBA Trade Deadline. Though activity is never a guarantee, recent history suggests the roster may not look the same on the night of the fifth. So yeah, take one final look on the third of February, because it may be your last. … Especially if Lauri Markkanen rumors are for real this time.
The Home Stretch – March 5, 2026
Opponent: Washington Wizards
Twenty games remaining on the schedule, this is the point in the year where every result matters. Last season’s squad emerged victorious in a whopping two of their final twenty matchups.
Expect more of the same this year.
This meeting with Washington will be an important head-to-head in which the loser gets the slightest of nudges closer to the top overall pick (at least according to the totally trustworthy draft lottery odds). Washington will be the generals of a formidable tank themselves, and tank enthusiasts will have this milestone pinned to the top of their NBA League Pass priority list. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Player Reunions
John Collins’ Return – October 22, 2025
Opponent: Los Angeles Clippers
Hilariously, opening night in Salt Lake City will also play the setting of John Collins’ welcome back to Utah after the Jazz dealt him to the Clippers in the offseason. We’re double-dipping in the viewer’s guide. Sorry. His nearly 50/40/90 season may have completely revived his career, and he’s in a better place now. Now he heads to Utah in the days leading to Halloween with a thirst for blood and a target virtually incapable of defending itself. That’s means, motive, and opportunity. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this sounds like the premise of an Agatha Christie novel. Time to Face the Music.
Collin Sexton’s Revenge – January 10, 2026
Opponent: Charlotte Hornets
For a while there, I really thought Collin Sexton would be Utah’s starting point guard on a playoff roster. Just seeing the pure, concentrated look of murder in his eyes convinced me that he would jump through someone’s torso to dive for a loose ball. Pure basketball mania — I’m really going to miss him.
But he returns to Utah in a Charlotte Hornets uniform in January, where Jazz fans will get to witness a Tony Parker-esque discomfort in watching a beloved family member don the — erm — distinct turquoise and purple.
Jordan Clarkson’s Homecoming – March 11, 2026
I can recall witnessing a black Lamborghini cruising down I-15 earlier this year. Such a car is a rare occurrence in Utah, a place where conservative values typically bleed into purchasing minivans and pickup trucks, so my wife and I swung our heads to catch a glimpse of the driver. Who in the state of Utah could boast so much swagger, roll with so much style, as to get in the cockpit of a Lambo?
Dreadlocks and face tattoos, the moment we saw his face, the pilot was unmistakable. He was none other than Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz. An icon of fashion. A flamethrower on the basketball court. He delivers heat in every aspect of his life. JC always stood out with the Jazz and was a fan-favorite during his time with the squad. Now, battling for a championship with the New York Knicks, he’ll visit Utah once in 2026.
Wild Card
Rutgers Rivalry – December 27, 2025
Opponent: San Antonio Spurs
Utah may have “lost” the NBA Draft Lottery, but they effectively won it with their second wind, grabbing Ace Bailey as he slid to the fifth spot in the draft. Despite all the murmuring and rumors, Utah got their guy and couldn’t be happier about it.
But his teammate and second overall pick has gathered plenty of his own headlines. Dylan Harper outshone Ace in college and stole the spotlight at Rutgers. They’ll meet as opponents for the first time as pros two days after Christmas in what may turn into one of basketball’s most fascinating interpersonal rivalries.
Tank Warfare – Multiple Dates
Opponent: THE WORLD
The Utah Jazz aren’t aiming to win the NBA Championship this season. Please take a moment to regain your composure. No, they have their gaze fixed upon the NBA Draft Lottery, and the competition is just as stiff. At this point in the year, it’s impossible to know which teams will be competing for the number one pick and who will actually make a competitive effort (good for them), but we can list out the usual suspects and set the dates from there.
Here is every first matchup with other well-known tank commanders across the league.
Washington Wizards: March 5, 2026
New Orleans Pelicans: February 26, 2026
Charlotte Hornets: November 2, 2025
Brooklyn Nets: December 4, 2025
Toronto Raptors: February 1, 2026
Happy watching, and may your viewership return whatever you hope to get out of this edition of the Utah Jazz.
Calvin Barrett is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Tokyo, Japan. He has covered the Utah Jazz and BYU athletics since 2024.
