Salt Lake City – Utah Jazz player Keyonte George says the squad is mentally strong despite back-to-back losses following the NBA trade deadline.
George joined Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on KSL Sports Zone to talk about his trip to Indianapolis for the Rising Stars Challenge, as well as where the Jazz stand as a team in the middle of the season.
You can hear the entire interview in the player below.
Jazz Remains Together After Trade Deadline.
Despite losing Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji, and Simone Fontecchio at the NBA trade deadline, George believes the Jazz locker room is unshaken.
“Mentally we’re phenomenal, we’re coming together each and every day,” George went on to say. “We’re as tight as we’ve been, the vibes are still high.”
Since the trade deadline, the Jazz have lost straight games to the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors, dropping to the 11th seed in the West.
The personnel changes, combined with the two-game losing streak, have raised doubts about whether the Jazz would rather battle for the play-in tournament or fall back into the draft lottery.
“We still understand that we’re still a winning team, and we can be a winning team,” he said. “We strung wins together early in the year, so we’ve just got to continue to know that we did that, and we can’t let these two losses take us off the path of where we want to be.”
With 28 games remaining in the regular season, the Jazz are 1.5 games behind the Warriors for the 10th spot in the West and 1.5 games ahead of the 12th-seeded Houston Rockets.
“Our togetherness is where we want it to be from the staff to the players, everybody around this great organization,” he said. “So we’re just trying to feed off that and we’ll definitely pick it up for sure.”
George is excited for the Rising Stars Challenge.
George will represent the Jazz alongside colleague Walker Kessler in the Rising Stars Challenge.
George will play for WNBA great Tamika Catchings, whereas Kessler will play for Team Jalen, which is coached by longtime NBA wing Jalen Rose.
“It’s going to be a fun weekend,” George stated.
While the youngster will be locked into the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, he expects to take advantage of a rare opportunity to talk with the NBA’s elite players throughout the weekend.
“Looking forward to being around great caliber players just like myself, maybe get a chance to talk to the guys who made the All-Star,” he said. “Maybe get a chance to pick their brain, ask questions.”
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Along with George and Kessler, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen will compete in the Three-Point Shootout on Saturday night as part of All-Star Weekend.
The Rising Stars Challenge will include four seven-player teams playing in a three-game competition. TNT will broadcast the games on Friday, February 16 at 7 p.m. MST.
