Utah Jazz Rookie shines in blowout loss to San Antonio Spurs

With each passing loss, it’s clear that the Utah Jazz — who are now 0-5 and the last winless team in the NBA — need to focus on getting the kids playing. In the 2024 NBA Draft, the Jazz selected Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski, all of whom were considered lottery picks at some point in the 2024 class.

An impressive game followed against the Sacramento Kings, in which Filipowski scored 12 points, pulled down eight rebounds, dished out two assists, made a steal and only picked up one foul in a blowout loss. That was a career night against Sacramento off the bench after being held scoreless in limited minutes in the first three minutes.

After that game against the Kings, and despite having to match up with Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs, Will Hardy opted to start the Duke rookie big man next to Walker Kessler on Thursday.

In that game, and his first career start, Filipowski played 20 minutes en route to 12 points, five rebounds and an assist, but was hit with a trio of fouls. The rookie big man went 2-for-4 from beyond the arc and missed just one shot inside the arc, posting a 5-for-8 shooting performance from the floor.

However, Filipowski worked well with Kessler, this is a combination that you might not see much in the top five until March, as this was a match that Larui Markkanen did not play in.

Fellow rookie Cody Williams labored in this game by going 0-for-6 from the floor, 0-for-5 from beyond the arc but 2-for-2 at the charity stripe with five rebounds and two assists.

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