When the winless Utah Jazz play their second game in a back-to-back set Tuesday night in Salt Lake City against the Sacramento Kings, they will have to turn the page from more than their third loss to open the season.
The lowlight of Utah’s 110-102 defeat on Monday in Dallas came in the third quarter when second-year forward Taylor Hendricks had to be taken off the floor on a stretcher after a horrific leg injury. Multiple media outlets reported Hendricks sustained a fractured right fibula and a dislocated ankle.
“Everybody wants to go give him a hug, dap him, show him some love,” a visibly emotional Jazz coach Will Hardy said during Monday’s post-game press conference. “I’ll sit down and have a longer conversation with him in the near future. I know he’s processing a lot right now.”
Utah will try to regroup with a quick turnaround after the loss in Dallas.
Six Jazz scored in double figures in the loss to the Mavericks, led by Collin Sexton’s 23 points. Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George each scored 17, and Walker Kessler recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Monday’s outing was far more competitive than Utah’s previous time out, a 127-86 blowout against Golden State last Friday. The rout followed a 126-124 nail-biter in the team’s season opener Oct. 23 vs. Memphis.
Utah’s 0-3 start is the organization’s worst since the 2013-14 Jazz lost their first eight games of the season.
Sacramento avoided extending its start to 0-3, rebounding from narrow defeats of two points to the Minnesota Timberwolves and four to the Los Angeles Lakers with a 111-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
De’Aaron Fox scored 24 points to become just the fifth player in Kings’ franchise history to surpass 10,000 with the club. Fox joins Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman, Mitch Richmond and Nate “Tiny” Archibald.
“Not a lot of people get to (score 10,000 points), and being able to do it all in one place has definitely made everything even more special,” Fox said in his post-game interview with NBC Sports.
Fox has spent his entire career with the Kings organization since being selected by the team with the fifth overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft. He is averaging 22.3 points through Sacramento’s first three games, a slight dip from his career-best 26.6 points per game averaged in the 2023-24 season. Fox has shared offensive perimeter duties in 2024-25 with veteran DeMar DeRozan, who scored 23 points on Monday.
DeRozan has at least 23 points in each of his first three games as a King. He has excelled at getting to the foul line, with his 9-of-10 performance from there vs. Portland improving his season total to 24 of 28.
Domantas Sabonis followed his triple-double in Saturday’s loss to the Lakers with a 16-point, 13-rebound performance against the Trail Blazers. Sabonis also dished seven assists in the win.
Sacramento will look to extend a streak of another kind on Tuesday, seeking its fifth consecutive win over Utah dating to the 2022-23 season. The Kings swept the three-game series last season and took three of four games in 2022-23.
–Field Level Media