Jazz hire away longtime Celtics exec Austin Ainge
The Utah Jazz hired longtime Boston Celtics executive Austin Ainge as their new president of basketball operations on Monday.
Ainge, 43, worked in the Boston front office for 17 years, most recently as an assistant general manager, and is the son of Jazz CEO and alternate governor Danny Ainge.
'We're absolutely thrilled to welcome Austin Ainge as our new President of Basketball Operations,' said Jazz governor Ryan Smith. 'Austin is one of the brightest minds in the NBA -- his 17 years with the Celtics have given him incredible insight into every part of an organization. I've known Austin for 15 years, and I've watched him grow into an accomplished, innovative, and strategic basketball executive who's ready to lead this organization.'
Justin Zanik will remain in his role as Utah's general manager and will work together with Austin Ainge and head coach Will Hardy moving forward.
'I couldn't be more excited about the bright future of this organization,' Austin Ainge said. 'I look forward to partnering with Ryan and Ashley Smith and our other leaders within the Utah Jazz and will utilize my experience over the last 17 years building a championship-caliber organization. I have lived this my whole life, constantly studying teams, talent, chemistry and the selflessness necessary to win. I look forward to bringing that to Utah and am excited to give Jazz fans a lot to cheer about as we build our program back up.'
In his time with the Celtics, Austin Ainge also worked as director of scouting and player personnel and served as head coach of the NBA G League's Maine Celtics (2009-11). His efforts helped Boston reach the Eastern Conference finals six times and capture the 2024 NBA championship.
'We are thrilled for Austin as he embarks on his new journey with the Jazz,' said Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. 'He's clearly ready for this next step, and I know how much he's looking forward to leading a team. He's obviously very bright and has experienced success as a player, coach and executive at various levels of the game. On top of that, he leaves no stone unturned -- he's a strategic thinker that's motivated and is an extremely hard worker. We will miss him in Boston, but could not be happier for Austin and his family.'
Austin Ainge is already a familiar name for basketball fans in Utah. As a two-time team captain at BYU, he appeared in 101 games from 2003-07 and helped the Cougars win two Mountain West Conference titles and make three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
The Jazz finished with an NBA-worst and franchise-worst 17-65 record in 2024-25, missing the playoffs for a third consecutive season.
Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
26 minutes ago
- USA Today
On-air chemistry? What to expect from ESPN's NBA Finals announcers
On-air chemistry? What to expect from ESPN's NBA Finals announcers Show Caption Hide Caption Shaq talks NBA Finals matchup and NBA on TNT Shaquille O'Neal joins Sports Seriously to talk about all things NBA and his upcoming Netflix docu-series 'Power Moves'. Sports Seriously For the third straight season, ESPN will feature a different three-person broadcasting crew for the NBA Finals, as Richard Jefferson debuts alongside fellow analyst Doris Burke and play-by-play announcer Mike Breen. Jefferson replaces JJ Redick on the network's No. 1 NBA team, as Redick became the Los Angeles Lakers head coach after last season. A 17-year NBA player, Jefferson joined Breen and Burke throughout the 2024-25 regular season before ESPN officially announced he would be on the Finals call – which starts June 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers – in February. Redick and Burke were already a makeshift analyst pairing next to Breen. ESPN's initial plan, following the 2023 firings of longtime top-game analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, was to have Burke and Doc Rivers as the No. 1 crew. But Rivers quickly jumped back into the coaching ranks with the Milwaukee Bucks, allowing Redick to join the top team. "When it's two (analysts), it's not just my chemistry with Doris and my chemistry with Richard Jefferson, it's their chemistry together, and that's what makes it much more of a challenge," Breen said of a three-person booth on a May 27 episode of "The Sports Media with Richard Deitsch" podcast. "Richard, I think, has been a much better fit in a three-person booth than Doc was. Doc, I think he's a great analyst, but he had never really worked a lot three-person." Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson worked together for 17 years and became known for playing their roles perfectly – Van Gundy the complainer, Jackson with the catchphrases and Breen conducting it all. Working with Redick and Burke last year, Breen said, the trio started to build chemistry but called roughly a dozen games together by the time the playoffs began. "And I thought, again, the growth with Doris and JJ last year, we really started getting a great feel for each other," Breen told Deitsch. "And now all of a sudden, JJ is the Laker coach. So now you bring in this year, and we tried a whole bunch of different people. "It's difficult, and I feel it's much more difficult when it's a three-person booth as opposed to just two. You can get chemistry fairly quickly. For me, if I'm working with just one analyst, you pick up on that so quickly." Could this be another one-and-done for ESPN's NBA Finals team? The Athletic reported June 4 that ESPN was evaluating the entire No. 1 NBA team – namely Burke and Jefferson – after the finals. Breen will surely remain as the play-by-play person. But who joins him on the microphone could be a different face once again. Burke has been with ESPN since 1991 and became the first woman to call a major men's sports league's championship series in 2024. Jefferson, per The Athletic, is an upcoming free agent and has drawn interest from Amazon, which begins holding NBA rights next season. "I think it's what Richard and Doris have done in a short time this year, their chemistry just keeps getting better and better," Breen said, "and it's been really fun.'
USA Today
26 minutes ago
- USA Today
Details for Florida basketball's 2025 matchup against UConn Huskies revealed
Details for Florida basketball's 2025 matchup against UConn Huskies revealed Florida basketball's matchup against the UConn Huskies at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday, Dec. 9, was officially announced by ESPN on Wednesday, setting up a rematch of the 2025 NCAA Tournament Second Round. The Gators narrowly won that game, 77-75, en route to their third-ever national championship. This fall, the two teams will once again battle on a neutral court in the second half of the Jimmy V Classic, which is named for NC State head coach Jimmy Valvano, who won a national title at age 37. Florida skipper Todd Golden is just two years older, and his recent success made him the youngest head coach to win a ring since Jimmy V. The game is scheduled as the second half of a double-header that opens with the BYU Cougars facing off with the Clemson Tigers, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. ET. Florida-UConn follows with a 9 p.m. ET start time. The Huskies hold the all-time edge over the Gators with a 5-2 record dating back to their first meeting in the Sweet 16 of the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Third-seeded Florida prevailed in overtime, 69-60, over second-seeded UConn to advance to the Elite Eight. Connecticut won the next five meetings spanning from 2013 to 2022, with a pair of victories coming inside the O'Connell Center and the other two on their home court; the third came in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Semifinals — a 63-53 triumph. Then, of course, Florida bookended the series win a win in the Big Dance this spring. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Washington Post
34 minutes ago
- Washington Post
This play isn't really about LeBron James
We should all be thankful for sports. It's the best antidote to small talk, allowing strangers to skip past all that awkward do-we-really-have-to-get-to-know-each-other energy and cut through to what's really important. Like, who was the better '80s NBA point gawd: Mark Price or Isiah Thomas? That debate — and really, a debate that exists only in the warped mind of a Cleveland Cavaliers' die-hard fan — helps two Northeast Ohio males navigate their first encounter in the play 'King James.'
