Jazz Hire Austin Ainge Away From Celtics, Name Him President Of Basketball Ops

The Jazz made the move official on Monday, announcing that Austin Ainge had been named the team’s president of basketball operations. Justin Zanik, Utah’s general manager, will remain in his role, team officials said.

Jazz owner Ryan Smith told ESPN that he sees Zanik and Austin Ainge serving complementary roles in running the team’s day-to-day hoops operations and offering “separate and unique skill sets to help elevate our departments.”

Smith added in a statement: “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 watched him grow into an accomplished, innovative and strategic basketball executive who’s ready to lead this organization.”

Danny Ainge was a member of perhaps the greatest team in NBA history, starting as guard next to Dennis Johnson on the 1986 Celtics team that featured the historic frontcourt of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Ainge then went on to become the head of basketball operations with the Celtics before joining the Jazz as CEO.

Austin Ainge, 43, spent time as a player with the Maine Celtics of the G League before eventually moving into a front office role.

“As I look out into the future, there’s no one I would rather have run this organization than Austin,” Smith told ESPN. “His pedigree, his knowledge and his talent evaluation shone through, working with DA for so long and having the trust of Brad [Stevens] all of these years. Austin has the full capabilities to run our operations — he’s methodical, diligent and just brilliant.”

Austin Ainge said in a statement that he’s equally excited about the move.

“This is an incredible opportunity,” Ainge said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited about the bright future of this 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.”