6 to 8 Weeks Without Jaren Jackson Jr.: What the Torn MCL Costs the 1-3 Jazz

Photo: NBA.com. Jaren Jackson Jr., Utah Jazz, official NBA headshot.

Ty Jerome got fouled early in the second quarter in Memphis on Monday night and went down into Jaren Jackson Jr.'s right knee. Jackson walked off after 10 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and Utah lost 110-105. On Tuesday, ESPN's Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon reported that the imaging showed a torn MCL that will not need surgery, with a 6-to-8-week timeline. The Jazz have not announced the diagnosis themselves.

Jackson is reportedly out 6-8 weeks. Utah has already lost Kessler and Nurkić from its frontcourt, with Markkanen's wrist MRI still pending.

The games, not the weeks

Six to eight weeks from Tuesday runs to somewhere between about Dec. 8 and Dec. 22. On the Jazz's current ESPN schedule, that window covers 19 to 24 games, by our count, starting with San Antonio on Wednesday and a second Spurs game on Nov. 2. Utah is 1-3.

What Jackson was doing in October

Through his first three games, Jackson averaged 19.7 points and 5.7 rebounds, per the AP. The one Utah win, 120-119 over New Orleans, came with him at 24 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, per his ESPN game log. Fold in the 10 minutes in Memphis and the four-game line reads 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 50.0% from the field and 35.7% from three.

The Jazz traded for him in February. He is a career 18.5-point, 1.9-block player across 459 games and the 2022-23 Defensive Player of the Year. Utah saw three games of him last season, at 22.3 points a night, before surgery on his left knee for PVNS (pigmented villonodular synovitis, a joint-lining growth) ended his year, per CBS Sports. This is the other knee.

The frontcourt behind him

• Walker Kessler is gone. Utah sent him to the Lakers in a summer sign-and-trade, per Hoops Rumors.
• Jusuf Nurkić is out at least four weeks with a partial plantar plate tear, according to a Chris Haynes report relayed by ClutchPoints.
• Jaxson Hayes is listed with right shoulder soreness on the ClutchPoints injury report.
• Lauri Markkanen hurt his right wrist with 5:58 left in the first quarter of the same game, caught between Jackson and Cam Boozer, and finished with 2 points in 6 minutes, per the AP. No MRI result had been announced as of 3:25 p.m. ET Tuesday. Markkanen has played 89 games over the previous two seasons and has never topped 66 in a season with Utah, per the AP.

What changes on the floor

Without Jackson, Utah loses a big who can guard in space and pull opposing centers out to the arc. Without Nurkić, it loses its most experienced true center. San Antonio's frontcourt is built around Victor Wembanyama, and the Jazz play the Spurs on Wednesday and again on Nov. 2. Coach Will Hardy said Monday the team would "know more tomorrow once they get some imaging," per the AP.

What to watch

• Markkanen's wrist MRI result, which had not been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.
• Whether the Jazz confirm Jackson's diagnosis and timeline in a team release.
• Utah's next two games, both against the Spurs, on Wednesday and Nov. 2.
• Nurkić's four-week timeline from the Haynes report.

Sources

• ESPN: Jazz's Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. exit early vs. Grizzlies
• NBA.com (AP): Jazz forwards Markkanen and Jackson exit early with injuries
• Shams Charania on X: Jackson diagnosis and timeline (report)
• Hoops Rumors: Markkanen (wrist), Jackson (knee) undergoing MRIs
• CBS Sports: No homecoming for Jaren Jackson Jr.'s knee as Jazz visit Grizzlies
• ClutchPoints: Utah Jazz injury report
• ESPN: Jaren Jackson Jr. stats and game log
• ESPN: Utah Jazz schedule