The Utah Jazz have dealt with a slew of injuries this season. First, Dante Exum tore his ACL this offseason while playing for the Australian National Team, leaving the Jazz with Trey Burke and Raul Neto at the point guard slot for the year. Then Rudy Gobert sprained his MCL, and was ruled out indefinitely(although he’ll hopefully return soon). Gobert’s the anchor of the Jazz’s defense, and Exum is their best perimeter defender. Those are injuries that really hurt the team.
The latest victim is shooting guard Alec Burks, per Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.
Utah guard Alec Burks has suffered an ankle fracture and will likely miss a minimum of six weeks, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 27, 2015
Around this time last season, Burks underwent season-ending surgery on his shoulder. Hopefully his ankle fracture won’t keep him out of action too long.
Burks, who was the team’s starting 2-guard last year when he played, has taken on the role of sixth man this season, as second-year Duke guard Rodney Hood has been starting. Burks has started in just 3 of the Jazz’s 28 games this year.
The Jazz, who currently sit at 12-16, will have to hope that they’re a deep enough team to keep things afloat without Exum, Gobert, and now Burks for awhile. I’m not sure that they have the depth for that. I think that this is a team with a very high ceiling, but this may not be their year.
