KeyonteGeorge

Preseason question: What does George look like in a higher-stakes situation? The first three seasons of George’s career were all about exploration, culminating in a breakout 2025-26 campaign in which he made massive strides as an on-ball creator. His fourth season will be all about refinement, as George will be the nominal point guard on a roster with heightened ambitions and several mouths to feed. Utah added Jaren Jackson Jr. in a blockbuster trade last February and then drafted Darryn Peterson with the second pick in June’s draft. Lauri Markkanen, who spent much of the previous three seasons on a shelf in the back of the cupboard, would seem ready to make up for lost time. Even Ace Bailey, the fifth pick in 2025, came on strong down the stretch of last season and appears ready to shoulder a greater role. The Jazz’s shameless rebuild is blatantly over; now comes the work of meshing together all that talent, with George at the center of that process. Fortunately, the five-year, $155 million extension George signed this summer clears the runway for him to worry less about raw production and more about finding his place within a team that has gotten very interesting very fast.