Do you ever stretch out on the Earth, gaze at the pinpricked majesty of the Lite-Brite night sky, and take a moment to consider your place in the universe? Ponder the scope of existence. Observe the celestial bodies that pierce the outer reaches of the void and flicker a message of awareness in our direction.
The Earth is a satellite of observation. A clump of something, floating and whirling through the stretching expanses of the infinite.
Advertisement
From our point of view, our Sun, the source of Earth’s warmth and life, appears much larger than the specks of light that break out across the night sky’s pubescent, acne-riddled firmament. We understand, of course, that the Sun is not larger than the average star for the same reasons we understand that the Moon is not as large as the Sun: it’s all a matter of perspective.
So, though the Sun appears grander and more brilliant than the rest of the visible universe’s inhabitants, its proximity to us Earthlings makes it appear as though it’s the most magnificent body in the sky (save for that hunk of a constellation, Orion, winner of the night sky pageant 32,000 years running!).
But truthfully, the Sun isn’t anything special in the grand scope of the universe. Sure, brown and red dwarf stars make up the majority of the star population, but our resident star is microscopic compared to cosmic giants, which are hundreds to thousands of times larger — they’re not in the same weight class.
Last season in Utah, third-year point guard Keyonte George was a star.
Is Keyonte George truly a cosmic giant, or did he only look that way because he shared the floor with dwarfs?
He averaged 23.6 points per game, which ranked 22nd in the NBA. He neighbored established superstar scorers like James Harden (23.6 PPG), Cade Cunningham (23.9 PPG), Cooper Flagg (21.0 PPG), and LeBron James (20.9 PPG). And he did it on decadent shooting splits of 45.6% FG, 37.1% 3PT, and 89.2% FT. And he added 6.1 assists per game for good measure. Everything in this paragraph was a career-high for Keyonte, and by a wide margin.
Advertisement
Not bad for a player who entered the league branded as an inefficient volume scorer with a shallow playmaking portfolio.
Keyonte is a great success story for the Jazz’s youth-driven rebuild, and a very needed one, considering Utah’s shortcomings in developing lottery picks Taylor Hendricks and Cody Williams. But now that the rebuild is reaching its maturity, the question becomes whether George, whose stock rose exponentially on a subpar roster, can maintain his upward trajectory once the Jazz begin pushing for wins.
In other words, is Keyonte George truly a cosmic giant, or did he only look that way because he shared the floor with dwarfs?
From the perspective of the Utah Jazz, Keyonte was a borderline All-Star snub after his incredible 2025-26 campaign.
Advertisement
But he rarely shared the floor with the veteran players who populate the starting lineup. Markkanen missed 40 games. Jackson Jr. only appeared in four. Darryn Peterson was still attending classes during Keyonte’s ascension.
The Utah Jazz gave Keyonte plenty of floor time during games that they did not want to win.
And he shared the court with plenty of players who greatly assisted in Utah’s tanking efforts. But his improvement in efficiency suggests that he improved in his third season. Despite sharing minutes with few difference-makers for much of the season, he managed to increase his usage in lockstep with his effectiveness.
Contrast that with Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr., who both saw their scoring averages increase with more floor time in Memphis, but with zero meaningful improvement in their shooting percentages.
Advertisement
Admittedly, his defensive rating is horrific — the worst on the roster last season despite averaging over 1 steal per game — and this has always been one of the biggest knocks on his game. As a defender, George has a lot of room to grow, but he doesn’t seem the type to allow his weaknesses to stay that way without any corrective effort. Considering Utah finished 29th of 30 teams in defensive rating, there’s (practically) nowhere to go but up on that end.
On the flip side of that coin, it would be unfair not to mention that Keyonte also boasts Utah’s highest offensive rating of any player who played a meaningful chunk of the season, and that’s vital for a team that still ranked in the bottom 10 of the NBA in offensive rating.
His leadership off the court and in the offseason led me to believe that there’s much more to Keyonte George than what you see in the box score. As an involved participant with the Summer League team — the NBA feared what he could accomplish as a coach in ways they did not fear Derrick White — George pushed the prospective NBA talents around him. As a teammate, he’s been a driving force in encouraging chemistry in the locker room. He represented the franchise at the draft lottery, excitedly chatted up his future teammate Darryn Peterson, and stuck around to watch the combine. These are not common traits, but they are incredibly promising indicators.
It takes effort off the court to find success on the court, and we all watched as Keyonte set the stat sheet ablaze last year.
Head coach Will Hardy has always pressured George, and last season’s output is a reflection of that refining process’s apparent success. It takes effort off the court to find success on the court, and we all watched as Keyonte set the stat sheet ablaze last year.
Advertisement
I’m not going to forecast an All-Star season for Keyonte George next season. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his averages take a bit of a dip as he shares the backcourt with a prospect who is believed by many to grow into the NBA equivalent of a red giant.
But if the question is whether or not Keyonte George is the point guard of the future in Utah, I’d argue he measures very favorably with some of the better point guards in the basketball universe.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
Read the full article here