The Utah Jazz just got hit with a major injury blow as the regular season is starting up.
“Utah Jazz star Jaren Jackson Jr. has sustained a torn MCL in his right knee and will be sidelined for 6-to-8 weeks, sources tell me,” ESPN’s Shams Charania wrote on his official X account on Tuesday. “Jackson will not require surgery.”
Jackson, 27, is a 2-time NBA All-Star and the 2023 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
“BREAKING: Utah Jazz star Jaren Jackson Jr. has suffered a torn MCL in his right knee and is expected to miss 6–8 weeks,” Sleeper Jazz wrote on its official X account. “JJJ will NOT require surgery. Brutal news for Utah just four games into the season. Wishing JJJ a speedy recovery.”
“Hate that for Jaren, but it could have been worse,” Locked on Grizz podcast host Joe Mullinax wrote on X. “Here’s to a speedy recovery.”
Jaren Jackson Called Out for ‘NBA’s Worst Contract’
In 2025-26, Jackson’s season ended on February 12 after 48 games — and just 2 with the Jazz — to remove a growth on his left knee.
While Jackson isn’t playing, he’s still making an incredible amount of money — something the Jazz knew when they traded 3 1st-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for him.
Jackson is playing on a 4-year, $216.5 million contract extension he signed with the Grizzlies in July 2025. That will pay him $49 million in 2026, $50 million in 2027, $52 million in 2028, and a player option for $53.5 million in 2029, when he will still only be 30 years old.
Jackson landed on The Ringer’s annual list of the NBA’s Worst Contracts in 2026.
“He’s got career averages of 18 points and 5.6 rebounds, and also 1.9 blocks,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said. “I went on StatHead and looked it up to try and find out if there’s ever been a better player who didn’t rebound and who just blocked shots and scored, but didn’t really care about getting rebounds. It’s only 8 guys (in NBA history) to averaged 17 points per game, under 8 rebounds and at least 1 block per game and all of them are forwards except Joe Barry Carroll and Kristaps Porzingis. (Jackson) is an unusual player in a way that I don’t know it makes him a winning player.”
When Jackson’s current contract runs out, he will have approximately $350.2 million in career earnings.
Jaren Jackson Has Never Played for Legit Winner
Jackson was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft — 1 pick after Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic and 7 picks ahead of Oklahoma City Thunder guard, 2-time NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
In Jackson’s first 7 seasons with the Grizzlies, the team made the playoffs only 4 times despite featuring 2 of the NBA’s best young players: Jackson and point guard Ja Morant. The Grizzlies advanced past the 1st round only once, in 2023, and that year they lost in the Western Conference semifinals.
Jaren Jackson Jr. Injury Update: Utah Jazz Star Facing Extended Absence