Projected Starters: Keyonte George, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Taylor Hendricks and John Collins

Heading into the 2024-25 campaign, the Utah Jazz literally have just one individual player we can be sure will start.

Lauri Markkanen is a fringe All-NBA talent and one of the league’s most unique finishers. Despite appearing in just 55 games, he was top 40 in both total threes made and total dunks in 2023-24.

There’s no wasted motion or dribbles on any of his touches either. He’s one of the game’s most decisive, explosive and efficient offensive weapons.

After that, your guess might be as good as any.

John Collins moving over to starting center midseason seemed to clarify his role a bit. And if the Jazz want to pile up losses in an effort to improve their odds of landing Cooper Flagg, they may want to keep Collins there in an effort to juice his trade value. Unloading him in a rebuilding move would make plenty of sense.

At the point, getting Keyonte George some more developmental reps against starters makes sense. He’s coming off a decent rookie campaign in which he started 44 games, but he still has plenty of room to grow as a shooter and decision-maker.

Taylor Hendricks, the No. 9 pick in 2023, needs even more time. And Utah can be more open about their tanking by plugging him into the first five right away.

That leaves the 2. And while there’s an argument to start Jordan Clarkson that sounds kind of like the one made for Collins, Collin Sexton may have more trade value than any of the movable vets. Last season, he played as poised as he has at any point in his career, averaging 18.7 points, 4.9 assists and 1.6 threes in just 26.6 minutes, while shooting 39.4 percent from deep.

What does one great player, two veterans playing for trade value and two completely unproven sophomores add up to? One of the worst starting fives in the NBA, which is probably just fine for Utah right now.