Utah Jazz rookie Elijah Hughes making the buzz in NBA

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3 years ago

Elijah Hughes

Elijah Hughes has put on a great rookie performance for the Jazz against Toronto Raptors

Utah Jazz is currently struggling with players’ injuries and the Covid-19 issue. They have their 6 stars sidelined due to minor injuries, while Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles are quarantined as per NBA’s Health and Safety Protocol. This allowed some of the bench players from the Jazz franchise to play more than usual minutes into the game.

Jazz lined up a whole new starting 5, giving 1st start to Jared Butler and Elijah Hughes. Both rookies performed well at their position, but it is Hughes, who stole the show with a monstrous performance with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists with the team.

Hughes drained 7 3-pointers with still 9 minutes in the game. But he couldn’t break the Jazz’s 3-pointer record count in-game (8) set by Rodney Hood. Pascal was the top scorer for the Jazz with 29 points. But a triple-double by Fred VanVleet handed the Jazz 122-108 loss against Toronto Raptors.

Elijah Hughes NBA career and G League stats

The New York-born forward was selected by New Orleans Pelicans in the 2020 NBA draft. since Utah Jazz had the draft rights for Hughes, they signed him and assigned him to their affiliated G-league team Salt Lake City Stars in early 2021.

Hughes made 5 starts for the G League team, clocking around 27 minutes in games. He played at the guard position, averaging 14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game with the Salt Lake City Stars.

Hughes’s average game time with Jazz is around 2.3 minutes per game, giving him very little opportunity to make an impact. But making his debut as a starter with the Jazz, Hughes gave an impressive performance for a rookie. It might give him some more important minutes in future games.