Elijah Harkless
#16SG · Utah Jazz
Day-to-Day
Height
6'3"
Weight
195 lbs
Age
26
College
UNLV
Experience
1 yrs
C
D+
D+
D+
N/A
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Grade Elijah Harkless
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The Verdict on Elijah, in One Read
On the field, Elijah Harkless grades out as a shaky SG for Utah Jazz (D+ Impact). That places him 110th of 147 graded shooting guards. In his on-court role, the grade is shaky (D+ Role), reflecting how he produces relative to others at his position. Against that production, his deal reads as fairly priced on the Contract Value Index (C) — the team is paying below what the play would command. The public read is negative (D+ Sentiment), drawn from current news and social signal rather than the box score. As a pro, expect these grades to move quickly as a real sample builds.
Career StatsD
| Year | Team | GP | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3PT% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career |  | 32 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 35.2% | 27.2% | 74.5% |
| 2025-26 | | 23 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 2.6 |
Performance Grade by Season
CareerD+| Season | Team | GP | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | | 23 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 35.2% | C- C- |
| 2024-25 | | 10 | 3.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 31.4% | D+ D+ |
Grades reflect the player's performance in each season. Header grade shows the current season.
Performance Analysis
D
#110 of 147 Shooting Guards
FCA+
Elijah Harkless earns a D Performance grade, indicating below-average production relative to other NBA shooting guards this season. Through 32 games, Elijah is contributing 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game in his role. Elijah's best relative area is FG% at 35.2, though it still falls below the shooting guard median of 46.0. The biggest area for growth is RPG at 1.7 (shooting guard median: 5.0). Among 147 NBA shooting guards graded this season, Elijah ranks 110th.
Current Sentiment
D+
Negative
NegativeNeutralPositive
Sentiment around Elijah Harkless sits at a D+ and has been sliding over the last 30 days, a reflection of the growing tension between a likable narrative and a production profile that isn't keeping pace with the moment. The media framing around the 26-year-old second-year guard has been genuinely warm — his G League Player of the Month recognition and the "plays every game like it's my last" mentality have earned him real goodwill within Utah's rebuilding culture — but goodwill alone doesn't anchor a roster spot, and that reality is starting to creep into the discourse. At 6.5 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 2.6 APG across 23 games, his on-court production earns a D- performance grade, meaning the hustle-and-effort narrative is carrying significantly more weight than the actual stat line warrants. The most urgent storyline shaping his perception right now is the looming expiration of his two-way contract eligibility — a contractual clock that makes every remaining game feel high-stakes for his NBA future, and one that media coverage has explicitly flagged as potentially career-defining. Compounding the uncertainty, Utah has been cycling through a string of short-term guard signings in recent weeks — Kennedy Chandler on a 10-day, Bez Mbeng and Hayden Gray on rest-of-season deals — which sends a clear organizational signal about roster fluidity at his position and doesn't help his standing. The bottom line: Harkless has the right intangibles and the right story, but with the Jazz at 22-60 and the front office actively exploring guard options around him, the narrative is trending in a direction that has more to do with roster math than personal merit.
Contracts in the Same Value Band
Other same-position deals the Contract Value Index also places in the C band — a quick read on where Elijah's contract sits relative to comparable money.
How Elijah Compares at the Position
Elijah Harkless ranks 110th of 147 graded shooting guards by performance. That slots Elijah between Gary Harris (D) just ahead and Trey Alexander (D) just behind.
Graded higher
Gary HarrisMilwaukee BucksDBogdan BogdanovicLos Angeles ClippersDKobe SandersLos Angeles ClippersDElijah HarklessD
Graded lower
Trey AlexanderNew Orleans PelicansTransaction History
No transactions found for this player.
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About this player
Elijah Harkless is a player on a rookie-scale contract listed at SG for the Utah Jazz. FanVerdicts covers every NBA player, team, GM, and transaction — and puts your verdict on all of it. Sign in to cast your Fan Verdict on Elijah Harkless, see where the crowd lands, and argue the call. FanVerdicts also brings its own read — performance, sentiment, and Contract Value Index — as one honest input alongside the crowd's. Where FanVerdicts has weighed in so far: Contract Value Index C, Performance D, Sentiment D+.
The crowd's Fan Verdict moves in real time as fans vote on this profile. FanVerdicts' own read updates as new data lands — performance recalculates when NBA game stats post, sentiment shifts with media coverage and fan discussion, and the Contract Value Index recomputes when contract terms change. Contract details below show the structure (years, total value, average annual value, guarantees) behind the Contract Value Index read.
For league-wide context, the NBA hub has team rankings, GM report cards, the transactions feed, and live scoreboards. The NBA player rankings page sorts every active player by performance and contract value within their position.