Keyonte George leaves with knee injury in Utah Jazz win over Mavs

The Utah Jazz’s first road trip of the preseason ended up being a bittersweet affair for Keyonte George.
It all started on Wednesday. After the Jazz arrived in Dallas in preparation to face the Mavericks, George made the short trip up to Lewisville, his hometown, where he got to speak with the basketball players at his former high school and give them some new gear. This was clearly a high point that meant a lot to the second-year guard.
Then, on Thursday night, George was having a really nice game, hitting 4 of 5 from 3-point range and racking up 14 points in just 17 minutes.
But early in the third quarter, as he was trying to crossover, George slipped and twisted his knee awkwardly.
He spent a couple of minutes on the court before being helped off by teammates, unable to put all of his weight on his left leg. The Jazz later said George had suffered a mild left knee sprain and that he would not return to the game.
The good news is that the Jazz specifically used the word “mild” when describing the situation, something they wouldn’t have done if they felt like this was going to be any kind of long term injury for George.
Obviously any kind of injury is bad news, but if George has to sit out for a couple of preseason games, it would lead to some extra opportunity for players such as rookie Isaiah Collier and second-year player Brice Sensabaugh, who both had impressive outings in Dallas.
Though Collier’s shooting wasn’t great — an area that he’ll need to work to improve throughout the year — his passing was incredibly impressive on Thursday.
He finished the night with seven assists, four of which were on passes to Lauri Markkanen.
“He’s shown us in camp and during these preseason games that his decision-making probably exceeds his age, especially with speed he plays at,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said after the team’s 107-102 win over the Mavericks.
“It’s not the passes when he’s on the perimeter and he’s stationary that are really impressive, it’s the ones when he takes off downhill and is able to make reads.”
The Jazz’s preseason tour will stay in Texas for another couple of days, as they’ll face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night before returning home to play the Sacramento Kings next Tuesday.