The Utah Jazz will take on the Chicago Bulls a day after losing big to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s the next step towards the Jazz having a great shot at Cooper Flagg come lottery night. Not only that, Utah now has the #1 position in the draft standings. The worst they can do come lottery night is the #5 pick. That alone is a massive win for a team that hasn’t picked that high since 2014 when they selected Dante Exum. The hope will be that Utah doesn’t end in the 5th again, but you can do worse.

For the Jazz, they’re not trying to just lose games, they’re also hoping to see some development from their young players. They’ve seen some great signs from Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski with their offensive development. Collier is putting up some amazing assist numbers, while Filipowski is shooting the ball at an elite level. The biggest thing for the Jazz will be how good they can be defensively. That is going to be the long-term question for all of the prospects the Jazz draft. If they can’t develop defensively, they probably aren’t going to be on the roster long-term. The good news: the Jazz have time to let them develop.

How to watch

Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

When: 5:00 pm Mountain

Channel/Streaming: KJZZ, SEG+

Current tanking standings

The Utah Jazz have successfully taken the #1 spot from the Washington Wizards at tankathong.com. A loss against the Bulls is important, but a loss in the next one against the Wizards in a few days is absolutely vital. With Utah getting fined by Adam Silver and the NBA, we’ll see how they go about these games and if Lauri Markkanen plays. To end the season, Utah has just two games where they have a chance to win: the Wizards and the Hornets. If they lose both, the #1 spot is almost assuredly locked in for the Jazz.