Shane and Christie Carter trekked up to the second deck and parked themselves in section 212 for another long night.

Game 320 of the Utah Jazz’s rebuild. A listless Delta Center. A team limping to the finish line of another dismal year.

If that wasn’t enough, an added cruelty awaited the Carters on this night: Former Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was in town with his new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, a squad with hopes of winning an NBA championship.

The Carters dressed appropriately for the occasion. Clad in Michell’s old Jazz jersey, they said they wanted to support their franchise’s former star. But a part of them just wanted to feel connected to the last time they felt proud of their own team.

“All the guys that came through here, we really want them to do well,” Shane Carter said. “I just wish the Jazz would actually compete too, especially against the people who left. Let them know, ‘Hey, we’re still here.’ A lot of times we’ve tried to lose.”

That’s been life for a suffering fan base in recent years, bleak and unrelenting. Since trading Mitchell in 2022, a franchise that prided itself on always being competitive plunged into one of the worst stretches in team history.

But as the regular season comes to an end on Sunday, there may finally be a reason for Jazz fans to believe again.

On paper, the team’s rebuild made sense. It was clear that the Mitchell-Rudy Goebert era reached its end. So Utah’s new management traded their stars, stripped it down to the studs and built it back up through draft capital, rookies and a few shrewd moves.

The only problem was that it took longer than expected. What started as a two-year process became four. They gambled on draft picks and became a stopover for NBA veterans. The losses piled up as a fan base watched their former stars flourish in the postseason.

“It’s disappointing when you spend three, four grand on tickets, and you find out that it’s like, ‘What? We’re gonna lose again this year?’” Carter said.

But maybe, finally, the end is in sight. As the sun sets on another 60-loss season, the Jazz believe they have a contender on their hands.

The core of Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Keyonte George might be good enough to make the playoffs next year. Add in lottery pick Ace Bailey and another draft pick, and they might even win a series.

But how many Jazz fans are ready to believe again? That’s a whole different conversation. Many are still clinging to the past, the Mitchell years, still skeptical about the future.

Even head coach Will Hardy can respect that.

“When we talk about the rebuild, there are people who will say, ‘Oh, this person deserves it.’ Or the players deserve it, or you deserve it. But like, the fans deserve it too. They have been in this with us every day. They gave us grace,” Hardy said.

Grace, sure. But also, skepticism.

One fan, Phaedra Johnson, has been coming to games since Deron Williams was running the show and paid $45 a pop for tickets throughout the rebuild. But sitting in the upper deck during the final homestand, she decided this was enough.

“I get it, it’s a business. They want to try and rebuild the team. But at some point, as a fan, the team needs to be built. This has been going on for so long. I will tell you, this is probably my last game for the foreseeable future,” she said.

It’s a combination of frustrations. It began with Danny Ainge saying he was ready to go “big game hunting” one offseason, but coming back with nothing to show for it. With mounting frustration, the leadership changed hands to Austin Ainge, who promised there would be no tanking this season. But that was less than true, with his team losing 60 games and owning the fourth-worst record in the league.

It might all be worth it if the Jazz can land a star in this summer’s NBA draft.

But it wouldn’t come without pain.

Starters have missed long stretches. Markkanen, an All-Star in 2023, hasn’t played in more than 50 games the last two years. Jackson, the former All-Star the Jazz picked up before the trade deadline, was shut down after just two appearances with Utah. George missed the 65-game threshold that would’ve made him eligible for Most Improved Player.

Even when they were available, Hardy sat them during fourth quarters as leads dwindled away. The NBA said Utah hurt the integrity of the league with its tanking, fining the Jazz $500,000.

“Every time I talk to somebody, everybody always says, ‘Oh, all of our starters are injured,” Johnson said. “I mean, in the fourth quarter, they stop trying. We all see it. They’re not even hiding it. We want to see a game. We don’t want to see practice.”

Another fan, Benjamin Andrus, just tuned out as players sat out.

“I don’t want to do that‚” he said about watching the team. “This doesn’t really do much for the franchise, or at least for the fans.”

Carter just wants to talk about his team with his friends again.

“The people that I work with, they look at Jazz as a laughing stock. They go, ‘Oh, that’s not a real thing.’ And it’s sad, because these people are from Boston or the Bay Area. They’ve got stuff to root for,” Carter said. “We don’t.”

Of course, many of these fans will one day come around when the team is competitive.

There are pundits already picking the Jazz to make the playoffs next year.

But rebuilding the trust, at least for some, will take time.

Carter said even buying another jersey might be tough. He has a graveyard of jerseys from players from throughout the rebuild he wanted to latch onto. All of them were traded away or didn’t pan out.

His latest, rookie guard Walter Clayton Jr., was sent to Memphis less than a year into his time with the Jazz.

“It’s frustrating, man,” he said, shaking his head.

For now, Carter said he will stick with his Mitchell jersey — and a link to an era when he could rely on his team.

Maybe that will be the case again soon.