Trey Burke Injury: Updates on Jazz Star's Back and Return
Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke missed Saturday night's game against the Phoenix Suns due to a sore back. He has been held out of action since sustaining the injury and his expected return date is unclear at this time.
Continue for updates.
Burke Out vs. Grizzlies
Friday, April 10
The Jazz announced that Burke would be out for tonight's game against the Grizzlies with a sore lower back.
Taken ninth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves and shipped to Utah on draft night, Burke's first two NBA seasons have been largely disappointing.
While flashing signs of competency as a passer, Burke's shooting remains a mess. He's shooting under 38 percent for his career and has even dropped in 2014-15 from his rookie struggles. Couple that with the Jazz being markedly worse with him on the floor, per Basketball-Reference.com, and it's become increasingly difficult to see him as their point guard of the future.
Utah selected Exum as its point guard of the future, and though there has been continued talk about playing them together, it seems closer to wishful thinking than a realistic goal. The Jazz's second-half run has largely come in spite of their point guard position.
In Exum and Gordon Hayward, Utah will still have someone capable of handling the ball. Joe Ingles and Exum make an interesting spacing fit because neither shoots all that well and both excel in space, but they've made it work by becoming a world-beating defensive unit. The pair's size will make them a solid duo defensively, able to switch between the guard spots.
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