The Utah Jazz is an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The team joined the NBA in 1974 as an expansion team called the New Orleans Jazz. The Jazz relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979. The Jazz have won two consecutive Western Conference championships in 1997 and 1998. [1] The Jazz have played their home games at Vivint Arena, first known as Delta Center and then the EnergySolutions Arena, since 1991. [2] The Jazz is owned by Ryan Smith. [3]
There have been eight head coaches for the Jazz franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Scotty Robertson, who coached for 14 games. Jerry Sloan is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (1,673), the most regular-season game wins (1,043), the highest regular-season winning percentage (.623), the most playoff games coached (186), the most playoff-game wins (92), and the highest playoff winning percentage (.495). Sloan is the first coach to win over 1000 games with one NBA team, [4] the leader for the most consecutive seasons coached with the same team in major professional sports history, having coached for 21 seasons with the Jazz, [5] and the only Jazz coach to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, having been enshrined in 2009. [6] Frank Layden, who coached the Jazz for eight seasons, is the only Jazz coach to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, having won it in the 1983–84 season. [7] Layden is also the only coach to have a number retired by the Jazz ("1" in 1988). [8] Elgin Baylor and Layden have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Jazz. Sloan had been the head coach of the Jazz from 1988 until his retirement in 2011. From 2011 to the end of the 2013/2014 season the Jazz were coached by Tyrone Corbin. Followed by Quin Snyder, The current coach is Will Hardy.
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | Number of coaches [a] |
* | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Jazz |
† | Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season.
# | Name | Term [b] | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
New Orleans Jazz | |||||||||||||||
1 | Scotty Robertson | 1974 | 15 | 1 | 14 | .067 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [9] | ||||
2 | Elgin Baylor * | 1974 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [10] | ||||
3 | Butch van Breda Kolff | 1974–1976 | 174 | 74 | 100 | .425 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [11] | ||||
— | Elgin Baylor * | 1976–1979 | 220 | 86 | 134 | .391 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [10] | ||||
Utah Jazz | |||||||||||||||
4 | Tom Nissalke | 1979–1981 | 184 | 60 | 124 | .326 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [12] | ||||
5 | Frank Layden * | 1981–1988 | 571 | 277 | 294 | .485 | 41 | 18 | 23 | .439 | 1983–84 NBA Coach of the Year [7] Had the number 1 jersey retired by the Jazz in 1988 [8] | [13] | |||
6 | Jerry Sloan † | 1988–2011 | 1809 | 1127 | 682 | .623 | 196 | 96 | 100 | .490 | 2 Western Conference championships (1997, 1998) [1] Most consecutive games coached with the same team in NBA history [5] First coach to have more than 1,000 wins with a single NBA team [4] | [14] | |||
7 | Tyrone Corbin * | 2011–2014 | 258 | 112 | 146 | .434 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [15] | ||||
8 | Quin Snyder * | 2014–2022 | 636 | 372 | 264 | .585 | 51 | 21 | 30 | .412 | [16] | ||||
9 | 2022–present | 164 | 68 | 96 | .415 | — | — | — | – | [17] |
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the team has played its home games at Delta Center, an arena they will share with the Utah Hockey Club starting the 2024–25 NHL season. The franchise began as an expansion team in the 1974–75 season as the New Orleans Jazz. The Jazz relocated from New Orleans to Salt Lake City on June 8, 1979.
Gerald Eugene Sloan was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before beginning a 30-year coaching career, 23 of which were spent as head coach of the Utah Jazz (1988–2011). NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Sloan as "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history". Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Quin Price Snyder is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After being named a McDonald's All American as a high school player in Washington, he played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. He was the head coach of the Utah Jazz for eight seasons, and is known for being an offensive-minded tactician.
Mehmet Murat Okur is a Turkish former professional basketball player. Listed at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), he played as a power forward and center.
Thurl Lee Bailey is an American former professional basketball player whose National Basketball Association (NBA) career spanned from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bailey has been a broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah— in addition to work as an inspirational speaker, singer, songwriter, and film actor. Bailey garnered the nickname "Big T" during his basketball career.
Francis Patrick Layden is an American former basketball coach and executive of the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz as well as former head coach of the Women's National Basketball Association's Utah Starzz.
Philip Donald Johnson is a former college basketball player and a former basketball coach. He played college basketball at Utah State University and Weber State, and has coached collegiately at Weber State University.
Tyrone Kennedy Corbin is an American former basketball player who last worked as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets. He was first appointed the assistant coach of the Phoenix Suns, then was named the Utah Jazz’s head coach, on February 10, 2011, following the resignation of longtime coach Jerry Sloan. He was also the brief interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings in the 2014–15 season before being replaced by George Karl. Prior to that, Corbin played 16 seasons in the NBA.
The 1964 NBA draft was the 18th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 4, 1964, before the 1964–65 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. In each round, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and then select any player from within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of its home arena as their territorial pick. The draft consisted of 15 rounds comprising 101 players selected.
The J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to a player, coach, or staff member who showed "outstanding service and dedication to the community."
The 1989 NBA expansion draft was the ninth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 15, 1989, so that the newly founded Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic could acquire players for the upcoming 1989–90 season. Minnesota and Orlando had been awarded the expansion teams on April 22, 1987. In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twenty-three other NBA teams had protected eight players from their roster and the Magic and the Timberwolves selected twelve and eleven unprotected players respectively, one from each team. The previous year's expansion teams, the Charlotte Hornets and the Miami Heat, were not involved in this draft and did not lose any player. Prior to the draft, the league conducted a coin flip between the Timberwolves and the Magic to decide their draft order in this expansion draft and in the 1989 NBA draft. The Magic won the coin flip and chose to have the first selection and the right to select twelve players in this expansion draft, thus allowing the Timberwolves to receive the higher pick in the 1989 Draft.
The 2009–10 Utah Jazz season was the 36th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 2010–11 Utah Jazz season was the 32nd season of the franchise in Salt Lake City, and the 37th overall in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Jazz started off the season strong, posting a 15–5 start to the season. Following a 121–99 routing of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Jazz peaked in mid-January with a 27–13 record, the fourth-best record in the Western Conference at the time. However, on February 10, legendary Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan and longtime assistant Phil Johnson both resigned; Tyrone Corbin was named the new head coach. Soon after the All-Star break was ended, on February 23, the Jazz traded star player Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets for two first round draft picks and players, rookie Derrick Favors and former All-Star Devin Harris. The Jazz would post an 8–17 record after All-Star break, including an 8–game losing streak between March 20 to April 3, and end the season with a losing 39–43 record, six games back on the 8th–seeded Memphis Grizzles. In doing so, the Jazz became the first team in NBA history to start 27–13, and failed to make the playoffs.
The 1988–89 NBA season was the Jazz's 15th season in the National Basketball Association, and 10th season in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the off-season, the Jazz acquired Mike Brown from the expansion Charlotte Hornets. This season marked the arrival of assistant coach Jerry Sloan, who became a full-time head coach replacing Frank Layden, who retired from coaching after an 11–6 start to the season. Sloan would go on to coach the Jazz for 23 seasons, including two trips to the Finals in 1997 and 1998, and 19 playoff appearances out of 22 seasons, including 15 consecutive appearances from 1989 to 2003, and 4 more from 2007 to 2010 before he resigned midway through the 2010–11 season. The Jazz held a 28–20 record at the All-Star break, and finished first in the Midwest Division with a 51–31 record.
Alfonso Clark "Trey" Burke III is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Capitanes de Ciudad de México of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines where in the 2012–13 season, he earned National Player of the Year and led the 2012–13 Wolverines to the championship game of the 2013 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Shortly after the tournament he declared his eligibility for the draft.
The 2014–15 NBA season was the 69th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA draft took place on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Andrew Wiggins was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The regular season began on October 28, 2014, when the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs hosted the first game against the Dallas Mavericks at AT&T Center in San Antonio. The 2015 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 15, 2015, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with the West defeating the East 163–158. Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook won the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award. The regular season ended on April 15, 2015, and the playoffs began on April 18, 2015, and ended with the 2015 NBA Finals on June 16, 2015, after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games to win their fourth NBA title and first since 1975. The Charlotte Bobcats played their first official game as the Charlotte Hornets since 2002.