The NBA season doesn’t truly begin until we spiral into a maddening wave of injuries. Yesterday the Utah Jazz, who already had Jusuf Nurkic on the injury list, felt the wrath of fate as Lauri Markkanen (wrist) and Jaren Jackson Jr. both went down in the first half. There is now a diagnosis for the former Grizzlies man, and it is a discouraging one.
Jaren Jackson Jr. has a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee and will miss between 6 and 8 weeks of action. Ty Jerome fell onto his planted knee and he had to leave the game.
The big man has barely played 7 games for the Jazz since arriving in February, as he also ended his previous campaign early to undergo surgery on, precisely, his left knee (this injury is to the right).
Utah are struggling to get going in a season that should mark a return to competitiveness, and Jackson has not been able to help them build a decent defence. Now, in Salt Lake City they are waiting to see whether Markkanen’s problem is nothing serious, so that their frontcourt rotation is not reduced to Kyle Filipowski.
(Cover photo by Petre Thomas-Imagn Images)