Lauri Markkanen plans to return to action during Jazz road trip

DENVER — The Utah Jazz opened their first long road trip of the 2024-25 season on Saturday night in Denver. It was the first of a four-game sojourn that will take the Jazz through Chicago, Milwaukee and San Antonio after leaving the Mile High City.
Things didn’t really start off the way the Jazz would have liked. They fell to 0-6 on the season after a 129-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets as Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson watched from the sideline in street clothes.
On Tuesday, Markkanen left the game against the Sacramento Kings early due to back spasms. He tried to get treatment quickly so he could come back for the second half, but the coaches and medical staff held him out. He then went through shootaround ahead of Thursday’s game against the Spurs but was still feeling some pain, so he didn’t play.
Saturday morning, Markkanen did not go through shootaround and did not play against the Nuggets but said that he fully expects to be back on the court at some point during the Jazz’s four-game road trip.
“Thought I was gonna be able to play against the Spurs, went through shootaround and was able to move around a little bit, but then it locked back up again,” Markkanen said. “So, we decided to take it a little easier (today).”
The Jazz were already going to be facing difficulties without Markkanen on the court, but he’s not the only one nursing an injury. Clarkson, dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, left Thursday’s game late and is going to be continuing treatment throughout the coming week.
Isaiah Collier is still rehabbing a hamstring strain, Taylor Hendricks is out for the year and Collin Sexton, although still playing, is doing so with a fractured left ring finger.
With all of that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Saturday’s game against the Nuggets presented some unique difficulties for the Jazz.
Head coach Will Hardy tried his best to throw everything he had at his disposal against the 2023 title-winning team, and although there were things Hardy said he liked about the game, there were issues that he couldn’t ignore — namely turnovers, which have been a big problem for the Jazz as they deal with continued rotation changes through an injury plagued young season.
“Cohesion is a real thing with a team, for sure, and so that is part of what we are working through as a group,” Hardy said. “Look at who we just played — (Nikola) Jokic, (Aaron) Gordon (Michael) Porter Jr. and Christian Braun — those guys won a championship together.
“They’ve played a lot of games, a lot of playoff games together. You can tell. You can feel when they’re on the court together, the cohesion that they have.”
While cohesion and understanding one another is something the Jazz are working toward, it’s made harder when so many players are sidelined, but hopefully they could be getting Markkanen and maybe even Collier back in the coming days.