The 1997–98 NBA season was the Jazz's 24th season in the National Basketball Association and 19th season in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jazz had been runner-ups in the 1997 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games. In the 1997–98 season, the Jazz again reached the Finals, and were again defeated by the Bulls in six games. During the off-season, All-Star point guard John Stockton sustained a knee injury that caused him to miss the first 18 games of the regular season. The Jazz got off to an 11–7 start after losing three of their first four games. The team also changed their starting lineup six games into the season, replacing Bryon Russell at small forward with Adam Keefe and replacing Greg Ostertag at center with Greg Foster. The team held a 31–15 record at the All-Star break. The Jazz won 31 of their final 36 games after the All-Star break, including an 11-game winning streak between February and March. The team finished in first place in the Midwest Division with a 62–20 record, tying the Bulls for the league's best record. They also made their fifteenth consecutive trip to the playoffs. Top scorer Karl Malone averaged 27.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game and was named to the All-NBA First Team and the NBA All-Defensive First Team; he was also the only member of the team to be selected for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. The Jazz offense featured two other players who averaged in double-digits in points per game: Jeff Hornacek with 14.2 points per game and Stockton with 12.0 points per game. Malone finished in second place in Most Valuable Player voting behind Michael Jordan, who won his fifth MVP award with 92 first-place votes, while Malone had 20 first-place votes, and head coach Jerry Sloan finished in second place in Coach of the Year voting. Hornacek also won the Three-Point Shootout during the All-Star Weekend in New York City. In the Western Conference First Round of the playoffs, the Jazz trailed 2–1 to the 8th-seeded Houston Rockets, but managed to win the series in five games. In the Western Conference Semifinals, they defeated the San Antonio Spurs in five games. After that, the Jazz swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in four straight games to advance to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. In a rematch of last year's NBA Finals, the Jazz met the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls once again prevailed over the Jazz in six games, winning their third consecutive championship and sixth overall in eight years.

Offseason

NBA draft

The Jazz used two picks; a first-round pick on point guard Jacque Vaughn and a second round pick on Nate Erdmann. Vaughn would play with the team for four seasons before going to the Atlanta Hawks and Erdmann was cut from the team right before regular season, therefore signing with Idaho Stampede in the CBA.

Roster

Roster Notes

Salaries

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records