For Utah Jazz fans, I’m sure it was hard to find any joy or excitement in the announcement of the 2024-25 NBA season schedule. After all, with a team full of young players and still rebuilding, you don’t scour the schedule looking for the elite games that will prove your team’s worth.
Instead, you need to dig a little deeper and think a little broader when looking at the schedule of games to circle. So here are five things you need to pay attention to during the 2024-25 season if you’re a Jazz fan.
Planning Ahead for League Stars
Fans will have plenty of opportunities to get tickets to games at the Delta Center, whether you plan ahead or wait until closer to the day of your chosen game and buy your tickets from a third-party seller to take advantage of price drops. To get the most bang for your buck, don’t think about the Jazz’s poor showing in a game against some of the league’s best players.
Instead, think about how great it will be to see the best players in the league put on a show at the Delta Center. Personally, I think there are quite a few games that immediately stand out early on in the schedule.
On October 23, the Jazz will host the Memphis Grizzlies, a game that will mark the return of Ja Morant in months. This game will be highly anticipated and Morant is far from boring. Before the end of the month, the San Antonio Spurs, featuring Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul, will be in town on October 31. If you get a chance to see Wembanyama play, don’t pass it up.
On Nov. 14, the Dallas Mavericks, featuring Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and newcomer Klay Thompson, will be in town. Then the Jazz will go on the road for four games before returning home for five straight games against teams worth seeing in person: the New York Knicks on Nov. 23, the Spurs again on Nov. 26, the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 27, Dallas again on Nov. 30 and the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 1.
That’s a whole bunch of big teams coming to Salt Lake City before we even get to Christmas. Plus, it’s smart to see the stars you want to see early in the season, before teams start managing rest and shutting down players.
Confrontations against other bottom feeders
Jazz fans should pay attention to how many wins the team is racking up. But rather than hoping for a big number, many will compare the losses to other teams in the league that are in contention for the lottery. Sometimes, the games against these other rebuilding teams can be the most exciting of a losing season because they can end up counting. Think of it as a fight for a playoff spot, but really, it’s a fight for a higher draft pick.
Additionally, games against other young, rebuilding teams give fans a chance to see plenty of up-and-coming talent. So, keep an eye out for games against the Portland Trail Blazers, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets.
Games before trade deadline
If you have feelings for any of the players on the current Utah Jazz team, you should take a look at the four home games leading up to the trade deadline. From January 30 to February 5, the Jazz will play games at the Delta Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors.
These games could be your last chance to see certain players in a Jazz uniform. Of course, there’s always a chance that players will be traded well before the trade deadline, but we all know how heated things get in the final days. So if you think there’s a chance that the Jazz will walk away from a player you’ve always wanted to see in person, it might be worth it to catch one of these games before the trade deadline.
December on the road
This is a young team that will have to overcome losses and work tirelessly to develop, experiment and learn a lot. The real test for some of these players will come when the team is on the road for extended periods of time. The Jazz currently have no home games scheduled between December 2nd and 27th. That is a very long time to be away from home and fight to overcome all the difficulties on the road.
The only downside is that the Jazz may end up playing a home game once the NBA finalizes its post-NBA Cup (in-season tournament) schedule. Still, the likelihood of the Jazz getting more than a single home game is incredibly slim. So December is shaping up to be a very interesting month for this team.
The final stretch
In the final weeks of the last two seasons, the Jazz’s veterans and more established players were sidelined or rested for the most part. This opened the door for considerable playing time for the Jazz’s younger players. While I expect there to be more opportunities throughout the season this year for the younger players, I think the end of the season will mirror that of the previous two.
So if you’re someone who wants to watch the youth movement — Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams, Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier — and get a really comprehensive sense of what those players look like when they’re playing consistent, extended minutes, then the final stretch of the season is what you should be looking forward to.
