SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz fell to the Washington Wizards 125-122 on Wednesday to kick off a five-game road trip.
Johnny Juzang matched a career-high 27 points to lead the Jazz while Kyshawn George had 23 to lead the Wizards.
Game Blog: Jazz Fall Short Against Wizards
This Game Was Better Than Advertised
The Jazz entered Wednesday’s game missing their top six players which could have resulted in an unwatchable matchup against the league-worst Wizards.
Lauri Markkanen (back), John Collins (back), Walker Kessler (rest), Collin Sexton (ankle), Keyonte George (illness), and Jordan Clarkson (foot) were out, leaving the Jazz with a slew of unfamiliar names to casual NBA fans.
The Wizards were without leading scorer Jordan Poole.
Instead of the game deteriorating into a mess of borderline NBA players revealing why they haven’t carved out a niche in the league, fans were treated to competitive, high paced contest featuring several faces that will have decade-long careers at this level, that came down to the final possession, a missed Brice Sensabaugh three that would have sent the game to overtime.
Johnny: 27p | 7r | 2a | 1b | 5 3PM
Kyle: 23p | 13r | 1b
Isaiah: 19p | 7r | 6a | 3s
Brice: 15p | 4r | 3a | 1b
Cody: 12p | 3r | 2a | 1s
Svi: 11p | 6a | 1r#TakeNote presented by @LVT_USA pic.twitter.com/MMSRfT5ar3
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 6, 2025
In addition to Juzang’s 27 points, Kyle Filipowski added 23 points and 13 rebounds in 28 minutes, Isaiah Collier added 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in 31 minutes, while Cody Williams added 12 points and three rebounds in a team-high 33 minutes.
For Washington, second-overall pick Alex Sarr recorded 21 points in 29 minutes, lottery pick Bub Carrington added 12 points and nine assists in 34 minutes, while George picked up seven rebounds to go with his 23 points.
As a whole, the Jazz shot a respectable 46 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three while dishing out 21 assists to 15 turnovers.
The Wizards, meanwhile, shot 44 percent from the floor and 36 percent from three while handing out 32 assists to nine rebounds.
While Wednesday’s game won’t go down as one of the more memorable games of the NBA season, it was far from the ugliest, even without the teams’ most familiar faces.
Standings Update
After their loss to the Wizards, the Jazz fell to 15-47 on the season, and remain 2.0 games back fo the New Orleans Pelicans for the worst record in the Western Conference.
The Pelicans lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night and now sit at 17-45 on the year.
With the Wizards win, they own a 12-49 record but remain 2.0 games back of the Charlotte Hornets for the worst record in the Eastern Conference, and 2.5 games back of the Jazz for the third-worst record in the NBA overall.
According to Tankathon, the Pelicans have the most difficult schedule remaining of the four teams with opponents winning an average of .528 of their games. The remaining Jazz opponents have a nearly identical .527 win percentage, Hornets opponents have a .506 win percentage, while Wizards opponents own a relatively undaunting .465 win percentage.
Next Utah Jazz Broadcast
The Jazz will travel to Toronto to face the Raptors on Friday at 7;30 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on KJZZ, streamed on Jazz+, and heard on97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone . Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.