Heading into the 2026-27 season, the Utah Jazz had expected Isaiah Collier to be a quality backup guard in their rotation–– and perhaps an even better version of himself from the past two years.

He had shown strong qualities of playmaking, rim pressure, and quickness that made him a fun, yet appealing young piece in the Jazz's young core for the past two years. And this season, the time had finally come for Collier to contribute to what many expected to be a winning roster.

However, through the first five games of the Jazz's season so far––one in which Utah has logged a 1-4 record––Collier has had a pretty rough start to say the least.

Isaiah Collier's Rough Start to the 2026-27 Season

When taking a glance at Collier's numbers within the first five games he's played this season, it's pretty easy to see that he's been struggling in multiple facets of his game.

He's averaging a career-low in points (7.4) and assists (6.0), is shooting just 33.3% from the field, has yet to make a three on the season so far within his eight total attempts, and has still struggled when it comes to limiting turnovers with just a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Not to mention, Collier's defense still hasn't seen the strides that you would hope in his third season as a pro. He allows +6.1 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor, and has allowed opponents to shoot +4.2% better from the field per 100 possessions; both of which are worse numbers compared to what was seen over the course of last year.

Collier's been inefficient, largely ineffective on both ends, and has led to many fans calling for the Jazz to make some rotational changes that lead to him seeing less minutes on a nightly basis, and rather Keyonte George and Darryn Peterson getting more of that work as Utah's lead guard.

And perhaps that's true. George and Peterson both have the capabilities to be the Jazz's lead ball-handler in multiple different lineups, and tend to provide better shot-making and defensive ability than what Collier's shown thus far.

However, to Collier's defense, the Jazz have still only played five games in the season, meaning we've got an extremely small sample size to base his third-year pro on.

The Jazz are less than 7% of the way through this season. There's ample time for his overall offensive efficiency to turn around, and for him to find a bit better consistency on a night-to-night basis. Every player has their slumps, especially those still young and on their rookie contracts like Collier is.

It does come at a poor time for Collier, though. After this season, the Jazz will be eligible to hand out a rookie-scale extension his way if they want to keep him around as a part of their long-term plans.

And while Utah has been historically conservative when it comes to those rookie-scale extensions–– only handing out four throughout the past 12 years–– a strong campaign from Collier could help his odds of being a bigger part of those future plans in the backcourt.

But right now, it's hard to have that same type of optimism for what's ahead. Time will tell whether or not he'll be able to right the ship over the next few months.