Jusuf Nurkic Injury Forces Utah Jazz Into Unexpected Center Audition

The Utah Jazz entered training camp with plenty to sort out.

The starting center spot did not look like one of those problems.

Jusuf Nurkic was back, Walker Kessler was gone and Utah appeared ready to lean on a veteran big man while the rest of its new-look roster settled in. One preseason game later, that plan is already on hold.

Nurkic will miss at least four weeks after suffering a partial plantar plate tear in the second toe of his right foot, Chris Haynes reported Wednesday.

That leaves Utah without its expected starting center to open the season. It also forces Will Hardy into combinations he may not have otherwise needed this soon.

Nurkic started Utah's preseason opener against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, finishing with four points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in 11 minutes. He missed the following day's practice with right foot soreness before the diagnosis surfaced.

Now comes the interesting part.

Jaxson Hayes is the cleanest replacement if Hardy wants to keep the rest of his frontcourt intact. Starting Hayes would allow Jaren Jackson Jr. to stay primarily at power forward and preserve something close to the structure Utah expected to use with Nurkic.

Mo Bamba gives the Jazz another veteran option.

Kyle Filipowski offers something different entirely.

Then there is Jackson.

Utah could simply slide Jackson to center and lean into smaller, more flexible lineups. It would put one of the league's best shot blockers in the middle of the floor and could open more space offensively.

It would also ask Jackson to absorb more physical work inside and could leave the Jazz vulnerable on the glass.

Those are normally the kind of questions teams play with for a few preseason possessions.

Utah may get weeks to answer them.

Nurkic's minimum four-week absence is expected to cost him the rest of the preseason and at least the first eight games of the regular season. The Jazz open Oct. 21 at Memphis, and their eighth game comes Nov. 4 against New Orleans before a Nov. 6 trip to Dallas.

That is not a cameo.

It is enough time for somebody to force Hardy's hand.

Utah brought Nurkic back this summer after he averaged 10.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists last season. Once Kessler was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers, Nurkic became the obvious veteran option atop a thinner center rotation.

He probably still will be when he returns.

But rotations have a funny way of changing once coaches are forced to see something different.

Hayes could prove capable of holding the job down. Filipowski could earn a larger role than expected. Jackson-at-center lineups could give Utah something it does not want to put back in the drawer.

Nurkic's injury creates a problem for the Jazz right now.

By the time he returns, Utah could have a completely different one.