THE Utah Jazz remained the only NBA franchise to go winless after falling to the San Antonio Spurs Thursday evening. While expectations for this year’s team weren’t high, from what we’ve seen, Jazz fans could be in for a long year.

In Utah’s five losses, there has only been one close game and they are losing by an average of 17.2 points per game. To put that into perspective, that’s double the nearest team, the Milwaukee Bucksat 8.6.

What can we learn from Utah’s disastrous start to the season? Let’s examine

In the past, under the Will Hardy regime, Jazz rookies had to earn their playing time to start the season, but this is no longer the case today.

When Taylor Hendricks went down with a season-ending injury, rookie Cody Williams was inserted into the starting lineup in place of last year’s starter, John Collins. Additionally, Collins was overlooked again along with Lauri Markkanen against the Spurs. This time it was against second-round pick Kyle Filipowski.

The Jazz aren’t afraid to step on toes regarding veteran playing time this year. Last season, Utah used the G-League to develop its top picks. This season, Jazz fans can expect to see rookies and second-year players dominate this year’s minutes distribution.

Sexton was arguably Utah’s MVP last year. However, whether he will be a part of Utah’s future remains to be seen. Based on the small sample size we’ve seen so far, things aren’t looking good for Sexton.

We’re only five games into the season and Sexton has already lost his starting job. To make matters worse, he only plays an average of 23.2 minutes per game. This player is in his prime and has played an average of 31 minutes per game during his career.

Decreasing Sexton’s role on the team could mean the Jazz are considering parting ways with the former lottery pick. Sexton has a team-friendly contract and unlike Jordan Clarkson and Collins, Sexton can bring back an asset in a trade.

After witnessing what happened last week, it’s not too early to look at the benefits of hitting rock bottom this season. If the Jazz finish as the worst team in the league, they are guaranteed a top-5 finish. The second-worst team is guaranteed a top-6 selection, while the third-worst will get at least the seventh pick.

The odds of getting the No. 1 pick are the same (14%) for the three worst teams in the league. So if the Jazz want to fail, there are clear advantages to finishing in last place.

If you think it’s bad now, just wait for the likelihood of Clarkson and Sexton being traded this year. Oddsmakers are still projecting Utah to win 25 games this year, but in my opinion that number will be less than 20.

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