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February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great John Stockton is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

John Stockton Calls Out Utah Jazz Over Rebuild, Direction

Originally posted on Utah Jazz on SI | By Jared Koch | Last updated Aug 15, 2025 10:34 AM ET

The Utah Jazz have been stuck in the midst of a long-spanning rebuild ever since deciding to trade their star duo in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert three summers ago, effectively moving the timeline forward to focus on the future and the development of young players, even if it may not result in much immediate success in the win-loss category.

For some, the rebuild adds up. Instead of meddling in the middle with a team without a championship ceiling, scaling back to get younger, focused on lottery odds, and reloaded for a better title run in the future makes sense, especially in a market like Utah. For others, though, the Jazz's tactics aren't quite as appealing.

One name who's come to critique the Jazz and their recent struggles in the standings was none other than Utah legend and Hall of Famer John Stockton, who made it clear he's not too big a fan of the team's methodology during a recent interview on The Ultimate Assist podcast.

"I haven't been tracking them, but I know that there doesn't seem to be a mission to win," Stockton said. "If that's true, that's frustrating. Because I think that culture is so hard to come by."

"I know how hard it was for the Utah Jazz to become a winning organization to begin with, and I came in on the tail end of that. I got to build from that with my teammates. But I wouldn't give up that fight to win every single game, every single quarter, for anything - for future draft choices, for future anything. Because the future... it moves."

Stockton, of course, was part of the Jazz in some of their best days as a franchise, headlined by Utah's back-to-back title appearances in 1997 and 1998, three 60-win seasons throughout the '90s to be among the pinnacle of the league's teams, even without ever reaching the top of the mountain to land that Larry O'Brien trophy.

But Stockton's route to the top was different than what we typically see in the NBA today. Stockton remained in Utah for 13 seasons before ever finding that coveted Finals appearance. He stuck with the same team, paired with Karl Malone, through the trials and tribulations faced before being able to navigate to those Finals, and even stuck with Utah in the years after their back-to-back loss rather than jumping ship.

Stockton saw all of the highs and the lows through his time with Utah, and remained committed year after year to reach those high aspirations, but the state of the league is vastly different now. Teams have to be smarter, more strategic in their approach, and, in the Jazz's case, sometimes it requires taking a few steps back before taking those steps forward.

That doesn't mean there isn't a mission to win in Utah; the process to get there just looks a bit different than Stockton's time in the league.

So, when it comes to the title hopes of the Jazz this coming season, to Stockton's dismay, those don't look too bright. However, the seeds are certainly being planted to see this franchise rise from the ashes in due time.