Jazz Roll Out Chaotic Starting Five Featuring Jaxson Hayes and Keyonte George
Underdog NBA reported the lineup alert confirming George, Peterson, Markkanen, Jackson Jr., and Hayes as the starters for Wednesday.
The Utah Jazz are rolling out a starting five on Wednesday that looks like it was pulled out of a random name generator.
According to Underdog NBA, Utah will start Keyonte George, Tristan Peterson, Lauri Markkanen, Isaiah Jackson Jr., and Jaxson Hayes against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Jaxson Hayes getting the nod at center is the direct result of Jusuf Nurkic going down with an injury. Going from Nurkic to Hayes is like trading in a reliable, slightly dented minivan for a unicycle. It might be more athletic, but you are definitely going to crash into something.
Then you have Keyonte George running the point. George has shot exactly 39.1 percent from the floor in each of his first two seasons while hovering around 2.7 turnovers a game. He is the definition of a high-variance experience, which is a polite way of saying he will either drop 30 points or pass the ball to the mascot.
For anyone staring at the prop markets, this lineup shift changes the entire math of the game. With Hayes stepping into the starting rotation and Tristan Peterson getting early run, the rebounding and usage rates are going to look completely different than they did during Utah's tight 119-116 loss to the last week.
Lauri Markkanen and Isaiah Jackson Jr. are going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting to keep the spacing from collapsing into a black hole. Markkanen is the only proven offensive anchor here, meaning he is about to see double teams that look like a rugby scrum.
We will see if this experiment actually works when the ball tips off in Memphis. If it goes sideways, expect head coach Will Hardy to start shuffling the deck before the second quarter even starts.