The hardwood court was missing, taken apart and temporarily set aside for an upcoming comedy show when Grayson Allen got his first glimpse of his new basketball home. The Utah Jazz rookie stood at the top of the darkened lower bowl at Vivint Smart Home Arena last week, gazing at the retired numbers hanging from the rafters and then scanning all of the empty seats below.
“I can’t wait to see it filled up,” he said. “That’s going to be when I really get my first taste of it.”
Allen did not imagine that taste would come so soon.