While watching a few NBA playoff games at his house last summer, Elijah Harkless texted Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy with a shot in the dark.
It started as a joke, mostly. Harkless, a two-way player with only 10 NBA appearances, saw Thunder guard Alex Caruso hounding league MVP Nikola Jokic. Oklahoma City elected to give up size in exchange for its top defender digging in on the 6-foot-11 playmaker.
Harkless figured this was his chance.
“I texted him, ‘I can guard him too,’” Harkless remembered. “It was kind of a joke.”
Only Hardy took him seriously.
And eight months later, in Harkless’ first career NBA start, Hardy returned the favor by texting him Monday morning that he’d get the assignment — sticking a player with fewer than 300 career minutes on the all-world center.
The Jazz had thrown pretty much every other scheme at Jokic through the years. Might as well give this one a go.
“If you know a good coverage for Jokic, please email me,” Hardy said.
The crazier part: it nearly worked.
The 6-foot-3 Harkless hung onto, harassed and tired Jokic over the course of 27 minutes. Harkless pushed him out to the three-point line and prevented easy touches just like Hardy devised. Harkless may have picked up four fouls, but he frustrated Denver’s leading weapon along the way.
Normally averaging 28.7 a game, Jokic had just 12 points from the field, and only two with Harkless as his primary defender.
“I’m a very cerebral [defender]. But he’s 300 pounds of cerebral,” Harkless laughed.
If it weren’t for 45 points from wingman Jamal Murray, the 18-win Jazz might have closed out the Nuggets in the final minute. Instead, they fell 128-125.
But the performance wasn’t bad for a young journeyman who needed an open tryout just to make the G League a few years back.
“I think Elijah is our best defender,” Hardy said. “It’s about trying to build a sense of fatigue as the game goes on, because every catch is hard to get. That’s Elijah’s identity. That’s who he is. That’s who we need him to be. And I think when Elijah plays like that, it raises the level of the group.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Ace Baily hugs Elijah Harkless (16) on Monday night.
Two years ago, Harkless’ only NBA option left was fighting for a spot on the then-Ontario Clippers. He’d bounced around in college, going from Cal State Northridge to Oklahoma and finishing at UNLV.
It wasn’t until his senior season he averaged more than 10 points per game — but his team wasn’t even good enough to have a winning record in the Mountain West.
When the NBA Draft came, every team predictably passed on him. Most developmental teams did too, leaving the franchise 15 minutes away from his house as his last chance.
“I went to two open tryouts,” Harkless said. “The second one, I made the training camp team. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any workouts. My agent tried to get me tryouts, but I guess I was too qualified to get tryouts outside of my home team. So I had to make the Ontario Clippers.
“Thank God I did.”
Even then, Harkless couldn’t find stable footing. He spent time in the Canadian basketball league in 2024 and hopped back to the Clippers in the G League in 2025, with the team relocated to San Diego.
The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers flirted with signing Harkless, but waived him before the season. The Jazz had to step in 2025 and sign him to a two-way deal just to end the cycle.
“I never pictured how it would be. I just knew I would be here,” he said. “I live in the moment every day. Eventually, I’d get the opportunity.”
Against the league MVP on Monday night, he made the most of it.
His teammates joked that nights like these would make him money one day. The stat line — two points and 0-of-5 from the field — won’t. But the defense might make an NBA team consider him.
“EJ starting, he completely changed the game from the get-go,” Jazz point guard Keyonte George said. “Guarding Jokic, shoutout to E. He works so damn hard. The fact he got to show what he’s capable of, we’re all watching him.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Elijah Harkless (16) as the Utah Jazz host the Portland Trail Blazers, NBA basketball in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.
As for the future, Harkless isn’t sure what his role in the league will be, if at all. Maybe Caruso is a good model.
“I do like Alex Caruso. I watched his start up with the Lakers,” he said.
Hardy is thinking about it too, leaning into the defensive side. “His NBA identity seems to be relatively clear in this moment,” he said.
But for a night, Harkless just wanted to celebrate a joke becoming reality — having his way with an NBA champion.
“They say he’s the best in the game. They don’t get no better than that,” Harkless finished. “It was cool to play the little game within the game with him. I learned some stuff today.”