- Utah Jazz surprised East High by holding an open scrimmage on Monday.
- Jazz players engaged students with dunks and a dance-off, creating memorable moments.
- Coach Hardy emphasized community engagement and players' connection with young fans.
SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens of students sprinted from the stands onto the East High basketball floor.
The reason? Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks had just pulled out his phone to snap a selfie — and the students wanted in on it.
The brief rush caused a bit of chaos for East High administrators and Jazz security, who quickly cleared the floor. But it was just one more unforgettable moment on a day full of them.
The Utah Jazz surprised the East student body by holding their annual open scrimmage at the school's basketball gym on Monday afternoon.
Students had walked into the gym expecting to see a friendly basketball game between teachers.
Instead, the Jazz players showed up — just a bit more exciting.
"We can all kind of lose touch with where we all fell in love with basketball and like high school basketball for a lot of us — players, coaches, people that played — some of your best memories, playing with your friends growing up, playing in front of your friends in the stands, there's nothing like the energy of a high school gym when it's packed," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
There was plenty of energy at East High on Monday.
And the Jazz knew the assignment.
First, Lauri Markkanen, who didn't participate in the scrimmage due to a bruised wrist he sustained at Eurobasket, got the crowd going by delivering a variety of dunk-contest-worthy slams in the layup lines (He made sure to finish all the dunks with his non-injured hand.)
"Kind of sucks to watch on the sidelines," Markkanen said. "You're itching to get out there, and I'm gonna be really excited once I get to go. I'm not sure what the exact date is when I'm gonna start, but been doing rehab every day and working out and feeling better."
Once the scrimmage actually began, it was a highlight-dunk reel — with some deep 3-pointers (mostly courtesy of Brice Sensabaugh) thrown in the mix.
It resembled the All-Star Game more than anything else, but the students seemed just fine with that. Each high-flying dunk elicited screams and jumping from the student body, which stayed standing for the majority of the event.
And maybe none made them cheer more than Hendricks
It was the first time that the third-year forward had played in front of a crowd since breaking his leg last fall. He reveled in the atmosphere, using the defense-optional game play to throw down all varieties of slams. He finished alley-oops, cut back door for two-handed dunks, and tried his hand and some dunk contest-esque jams.
The students loved them all.
"He still has a ways to go to get to where he wants to be, but I think you're seeing some early signs of just kind of trust in his body," Hardy said. "We couldn't be happier to see him out there. He obviously is enjoying it. He's gassing up the crowd."
He wasn't the only one hyping up the students, either.
If anything, the scrimmage showed just how young the Jazz are.
Heck, Ace Bailey just turned 19 — and is closer in age to the students than he is to some of the Jazz veterans. And, well, the Jazz players acted their age, celebrating with the students after plays and wanting to turn every possession into an Instagram-worthy reel.
The East students ate up every bit of it.
"We have a great group of young men, and to watch how they interact with the fans, their personalities, the way they're gracious with all these kids is good to see," Hardy said.
It's an annual tradition for the rookie class to have a dance-off to end the training camp scrimmage. Most of the time, it's a somewhat dull affair with the rookies either too shy or too uncomfortable to really get their dancing shoes on.
Maybe it was due to standing in the gym made famous by "High School Musical" — and, yes, they used a song from the Disney Channel hit — but Bailey, Walt Clayton Jr., John Tonje and Matthew Murrell put some heart into it, which the students appreciated.
In short, it was fun.
"We obviously want to be a great basketball team," Hardy said. "We also want to be really great members of this community. We have a funny group of guys. You see their personalities when they interact with the students. So it's been a lot of fun."
