SALT LAKE CITY — For months, the Utah Jazz anxiously awaited the return of several key players from injuries to get a better understanding of the roster GM Dennis Lindsey has built.

Gordon Hayward began the season with a broken finger on his non-shooting hand. Derrick Favors was slow to return to full strength due to lingering knee issues.

George Hill, the Jazz's key offseason acquisition suffered through a thumb injury, then a sprained toe, then most recently a lacerated lip and concussion before finally returning to the Jazz line up full-time.

Alec Burks missed the first three months of the season as he rehabbed from ankle surgery. Dante Exum has missed time due to soreness in his knees.

The Jazz looked like a M*A*S*H* unit for the season’s first 37 games. Every time it seemed the puzzle was close to completion, head coach Quin Synder was reminded that the team was always at least one piece short.

It didn’t prevent the Jazz from winning games, though. The Jazz built a record of 22-15 before Saturday night’s game against Minnesota, the team’s first injury-free roster of the season.

On Monday, the news came that the Jazz were assigning three veteran players to the D-League affiliate Salt Lake City Stars for a practice session to help the three seldom used, or recently returning players, find their rhythm.

Burks, Exum, and reserve point guard Raul Neto were assigned to practice with the Stars while the rest of the Jazz's main roster got the day off to recuperate from a five-game road trip. The assignment didn’t last long, as the three players were quickly recalled after the afternoon practice.

While the send down could be considered as rehab stints for both Burks and Exum, it underscores a problem Synder may soon find with a healthier, deeper roster. With only 240 available game minutes each night, and a roster with 14 rotation level players, Synder simply can’t give everyone playing time.

As Favors returns from injury, and ups his minutes to previous season averages, he, Hill, Hayward, Rodney Hood and Rudy Gobert will make up nearly 160 of the Jazz's 240 available minutes each night. That leaves a total of 80 minutes for rotation players Shelvin Mack, Joe Johnson, Boris Diaw, Joe Ingles, Trey Lyles, Exum and Burks.

Mack has currently edged out Exum for the available point guard minutes, while Ingles has become the favored wing to defend the opposing team’s best scorer, and provides valuable three point shooting. Diaw and Johnson provide valuable veteran stability, while the Jazz must find roles for Burks and Lyles as potentially lethal scoring threats off the bench.

Related:

Jazz assign Burks, Exum, Neto to SLC Stars for practice; call them up hours later

The Jazz sent three guards down who haven't seen much playing time recently to the SLC Stars to get practice time Monday, while the remaining Jazz rest after a lengthy road trip.

Truthfully, 80 minutes is simply too few to satisfy those seven players, to make no mention of Jeff Withey and Neto, who could find minutes on lesser NBA rosters.

If injuries were the runaway car, the Jazz are the dog in chase that finally caught up, with no great idea on what to do now.

The Jazz aren’t talented enough to lower the average minutes of their starters and still expect to have a similar level of success, and don’t have enough minutes off the bench to divide between their deserving bench players.

Exum, Burks, and Lyles need minutes to further develop their talents, while Diaw, Ingles, Johnson, and Mack give the Jazz a better opportunity to win now.

While depth is a good problem to have, better than what the Jazz faced when having too few bodies to begin the season, it will create a delicate balancing act for Synder. On one hand, the team has a mandate to win now to entice both Hayward and Hill to return as free agents this summer, and on the other, to develop the young talent the Jazz have invested heavily in.

The Jazz could clear up some of these bodies before the NBA’s trade deadline, attempting to combine multiple players for one player or a draft pick in return, seeking out a trade partner that is in need of added depth for the second half of the season.

However, for the Jazz to get any serious return on a trade, they’d likely have to give up a valuable young piece in either Lyles or Exum, who have hardly had the opportunity to reach their potential in a Jazz uniform.

With Burks' injury history, he’ll be a far more difficult piece to trade until he’s able to prove to NBA teams that he can stay on the floor for an extended period of time. While Johnson, Mack and Diaw all likely play roles that are too valuable to move on from on a team that’s trying to win as many games as possible this season.

The Jazz appear to have foundq their core for the future in Hill, Hayward, Favors and Gobert, assuming they can re-sign both Hill and Hayward to contract extensions this off season. While the Jazz control the contracts of Diaw, Johnson, Exum, Hood, Burks and Lyles beyond this season, Lindsey needs to decide if the team will be better served providing roles for Mack and Ingles long term, both of whom are free agents this offseason.

While the newfound depth of the Jazz will finally reveal the potential of the team the front office built this past offseason, it will test the ego management abilities of Snyder, and the patience of those players who will inevitably find themselves squeezed out of playing time in a difficult numbers game.

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