The Utah Jazz definitely have a lot of fans but apparently, the people who create the NBA national television lineup are not among them.
Wednesday saw the release of the official 2022-23 NBA schedule and it featured a lot of huge matchups.
The Jazz have dozens of games, just like every other team.
However, most of those games will not garner massive audiences.
Full Jazz schedule here:https://t.co/L02XFTpEdl
Zero ESPN games.
Zero ABC games.
1 TNT game.
3 NBATV games.Wow.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) August 17, 2022
The Jazz will have no games on ESPN, no games on ABC, only one on TNT, and just three on NBA TV.
It sure sounds like the NBA and the staff scheduling the television coverage don’t believe the Jazz are going to be must-watch TV.
Do they have a point?
Aching Jazz
The Jazz are in a tricky spot right now.
They recently traded away Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves and are reportedly on the verge of trading away Donovan Mitchell as well.
They might be mostly dismantling their team in hopes of blowing it up and then rebuilding it.
The fact that they are getting so few national TV games means that conventional wisdom assumes the team will be greatly gutted when the new season starts.
Most analysts agree that there is a good chance this happens.
If Mitchell leaves the team, they’ll still have a few stars (Jordan Clarkson is terrific, for example) but they will not be ready for the playoffs and might miss the postseason for a few years.
Changes like this are sometimes necessary when a team is consistently falling short of true greatness.
But it comes with a price.
In case of the Jazz, the price might be less attention and fewer viewers, at least for the time being.
NEXT: The Jazz Reportedly Want A Historic Haul For Donovan Mitchell