Utah Jazz traveled to Sacramento to take on the Sacramento Kings in the Jazz's first road test of the 2025-2026 NBA season. After seeing the Utah Jazz win on opening night in Salt Lake against the Clippers, there was hope the Jazz could put forth a similar effort on the road. The team certainly didn't disappoint and played very hard, especially defensively, to keep the game close throughout.

Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz in points with 33, while shooting 12-23 from the field overall and 4-13 on three point attempts. Keyonte George added 18 points and 5-15 shooting from the field but also recorded 10 assists against only 4 turnovers. Brice Sensabaugh continues to shoot the ball very well from the field and finished 6-11 from the field, 3-7 from three, for a total of 15 points. Rookie guard Walter Clayton Jr. finished 4-7 from the field for 10 points. Walt also added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

This was a very positive showing by the Jazz and demonstrated that the team is able to be competitive on the defensive end of the court. We look for the strong defensive effort to continue. There's no reason the Utah Jazz franchise cannot be much better defensively than what it has shown over the past 3 seasons. For the start of this season through 2 games, the effort is much improved.