Do the Utah Jazz have the league’s hardest schedule?
The Utah Jazz will have one of their toughest seasons and schedules in the last several years in 2022-23. Rudy Gobert is gone, leaving a hole at the center position, and superstar Donovan Mitchell may also be on the way out. The Jazz are without advantage for their November homestand, and that’s just the start of the troubles with this year’s schedule.
On top of that, the Jazz play 15 back-to-backs. The league average is 13.3 in the upcoming season, and Utah has the most back-to-back games out of anyone. Only two of them are at home, and a whopping six are on the road, which means the Jazz will have to play the same day that they travel.
Utah Jazz: 2022-23 schedule is not favorable for winning games
To dogpile, 10 of those back-to-backs are before January first. That means the Jazz will start the back half of the season on the outside looking in, with little hope to crawl back and contend. Teams like the Spurs, Thunder, Magic, Rockets, and Pistons seem to be leading the way to win the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, but if all goes south, the Jazz could also throw their name in, with high odds to win.
It’s bad enough that the Jazz are getting ignored at a national level, but their few games broadcasted on national TV will be a poor showing. Their November 15th matchup against the Knicks on TNT comes after the Jazz play three away games in four nights. Their November 19th game in Portland on NBA TV comes a day after the Jazz have to defend their turf against the Suns. The same can be said for their other two NBA TV games. The schedule does not make for good national viewing, and I fear that the Jazz will become a forgotten franchise, like the Hornets of the mid-2010s.
