Austin Ainge Assumes President of Basketball Operations for the Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz have announced the hiring of Austin Ainge as president of basketball operations, coming from the Boston Celtics. The news was confirmed this Monday, marking a significant strategic move for the franchise.
Justin Zanik, current general manager of the Jazz, will continue in his position and work in collaboration with Ainge. This decision underlines the organization’s intention to strengthen its management structure.This is the second significant move off the court that the Jazz have made in recent weeks, after securing a long-term contract extension for coach Will Hardy, which extends to 2031.
Ainge, 43, has been with the Celtics since 2009, initially as a coach for their G League affiliate. He moved up to a front office position two years later and has remained with Boston for the last 14 seasons, including six years as an assistant general manager.
He worked under the direction of his father, Danny Ainge, for over a decade in Boston. Now he will reunite with him in Utah, where Danny was hired by Jazz owner Ryan Smith as CEO and alternate governor in December 2021.For the past 14 years, Austin Ainge has been part of a Celtics front office that has been consistently praised as one of the best in the league. In addition to winning the NBA title in 2024, the Celtics have made the playoffs in 17 of the last 18 seasons and have won at least one playoff series in eight of the last nine years.
However, Ainge will take over a Jazz team that finds itself in a different situation. Although Utah has All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen under contract for the next four years, the Jazz won 17 games last season, their fewest wins in franchise history, and finished with the worst record in the NBA.
The team hoped to get lucky in the lottery to get Cooper Flagg with the first pick in next month’s NBA draft.
Instead, the Jazz fell to the fifth pick in the draft after not obtaining any of the four selections drawn in last month’s lottery. Utah also has the number 21 overall pick as part of the Rudy Gobert trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as a pair of second-round picks.
The Utah roster includes six players recently selected in the first round by the Jazz and eight players under the age of 23.
