Utah Jazz Must Address This Key Issue While Without Jusuf Nurkic

The Utah Jazz are going to have to do without Jusuf Nurkic in their lineup for the first few weeks of the 2026-27 regular season as he recovers from a foot injury he sustained in preseason.

Which, for the Jazz, is a noteworthy loss for their frontcourt. Nurkic was expected to be their starting center entering this season after the team had traded away Walker Kessler just a few months ago, but will now be forced to turn in another direction until at least early November.

The Jazz do have a nice dose of talent around the roster to stay afloat for a short stretch without Nurkic, but there is one area of their game plan which might cause a bit of concern–– just as it has for head coach Will Hardy: rebounding.

What Will Hardy Said About Jazz’s Rebounding Without Nurkic

Hardy spoke after Jazz practice on Saturday about what not having Nurkic does to the team’s overall rebounding ability. And while Hardy certainly has seen some positives from those that remain in the lineup, he sees a ton of room for improvement from his guys as well.

“I think there have been positive moments, and I think there have been frustrating ones,” Hardy said of the Jazz’s rebounding, “In the first game at Denver, coming into halftime and seeing Ace and Keyonte each with four rebounds was a good indicator of perimeter players rebounding. I think we’ve also had some moments when we’ve needed more.”

“It’s about the types of rebounds, too. Not all rebounds are the same. We need our smaller players to do a great job tracking the ball around the free-throw line. They need to do a great job digging out the second ball. The first one comes off the rim, gets tipped by two people in the air, and we’ve got to be able to clean up that miss.”

No Jusuf Nurkic Creates Trouble on the Glass for Utah

The Jazz remained a respectable rebounding team throughout the course of last year, ranking 16th in the league for total rebounds, and even stretching into the top 10 for offensive boards. So we know that, when healthy, this group can hold their own on the glass.

But just a couple of weeks away from the Jazz’s regular season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies, that health hasn’t exactly been on their side.

Nurkic––the Jazz’s best rebounder on the roster––is the only name signed on to average over 10 boards a game last year (minimum of 10 GP) and will be out for multiple weeks. The next closest is Kyle Filipowski at 7.2, who hasn’t played a minute in preseason also due to injury.

So while without that regular rebounding ability that this Jazz lineup would expect to have opening the year, they’ll be forced to lean on a collective effort from everyone on the floor to pick up the slack; something that Hardy emphasized as a key focus for his guys while being shorthanded.

“It’s going to remain an emphasis for us. Nurkic was a luxury from a defensive rebounding standpoint, and we don’t have one person who can make up all that ground,” Hardy continued.

“Everybody is going to need to participate more. Each person needs to get one more rebound for us to make up for the loss of Nurkic.”

Once this group is able to get back to 100%, a lot of those rebounding responsibilities will likely fall back onto Nurkic’s shoulders, and the Jazz will be a more effective group on the glass because of it. But for now, Hardy and this roster will be forced to improvise a little bit.

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