Utah Jazz

• 1. Introduction

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  The Utah Jazz were named for the music form that New Orleans gave to the world. Within five years of their founding, the team had moved to Salt Lake City, a city with almost no jazz tradition at all. The franchise's unusual existence began on the 7th of June 1974, when NBA owners admitted the New Orleans Jazz as an expansion team. Sam Battistone led the original ownership group and chose the name from a dictionary definition: collective improvisation. That spirit of improvisation would be tested repeatedly across five decades. The franchise survived financial collapse, a cross-country relocation, and years of playoff near-misses. John Stockton and Karl Malone eventually carried it to two consecutive NBA Finals. Both times, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls were waiting.

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• 2. Maravich and New Orleans

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  The Jazz's first major roster move cost them six draft picks. Pete Maravich came from the Atlanta Hawks. The price was two first-round selections, three second-round picks, and one third-round pick spread over three years. Maravich had starred at LSU before turning professional. He was the kind of drawing card a new expansion team needed to fill seats.

  At Loyola Field House, the Jazz's first home court in New Orleans, the basketball surface was raised far above the arena floor. The NBA Players Association required the team to install a safety net around its perimeter to prevent players from falling into the crowd. The team later moved games to the Louisiana Superdome, but the problems changed rather than disappeared. New Orleans levied an 11 percent amusement tax, the highest in the country. The Superdome's lease terms were punishing, and Maravich's persistent knee problems kept him from playing full seasons throughout his time with the team.

  Mardi Gras pushed the Jazz into a month-long road trip every year. The San Antonio Spurs faced a similar disruption each season during their city's rodeo. By the late 1970s, Battistone had concluded the franchise had no sustainable future in New Orleans. The Jazz were leaving the city whose name they carried, and they kept that name in their new home. Salt Lake City had previously supported the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association. The Stars had won a championship in their first season after relocating from Los Angeles.

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• 3. Settling in Utah

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  The Utah Stars had been shut down by the ABA sixteen games into the 1975-76 season, in December 1975, after missing payroll. Salt Lake City still held a basketball audience willing to follow a new team. The Jazz's move had received league approval only in June 1979. Little time remained to build a local following, and early attendance reflected that.

  Tom Nissalke was dismissed after the Jazz started the 1981-82 season 8-12. General manager Frank Layden stepped in as head coach. Layden won the NBA Coach of the Year Award in 1984, the same year the Jazz reached the playoffs for the first time. The 1983-84 roster featured Adrian Dantley, Thurl Bailey, Mark Eaton, and Darrell Griffith. The team went 45-37 and won the Midwest Division title, the first winning season and division championship in franchise history.

  Larry H. Miller, an auto dealer, purchased 50 percent of the Jazz from Battistone for $8 million in April 1985. That year's draft brought Karl Malone from Louisiana Tech to the roster. Malone averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds in his first season. The following year, prospective buyers from Minneapolis offered as much as $28 million for the franchise. Miller paid $14 million for Battistone's remaining half, keeping the team in Utah. The roster around Malone was beginning to take shape.

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• 4. The Pick and Roll

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  Jazz fans at the 1984 draft party booed when the team used a first-round pick on John Stockton, a guard from Gonzaga. Nobody in the arena seemed to know the name. Within a few seasons, Stockton was the team's starting point guard, and his precision as a passer had become evident throughout the league.

  Mark Eaton's 1984-85 season produced numbers that no NBA player has matched since. Eaton averaged 5.6 blocks per game, still the single-season record. He grabbed 11.3 rebounds per game and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. His interior presence gave the offense room to breathe. Malone exploited that space to become one of the most feared post scorers in the league.

  During the 1988-89 season, Frank Layden stepped down as head coach after seventeen games, and Jerry Sloan took over. The Jazz won fifty-one games and the Midwest Division championship. Eaton won the Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second time. Sloan built his offense around a single concept refined to its highest possible form. Malone set hard screens; Stockton drove the defense and found him rolling to the basket. When the defense closed down, Stockton could spot up for an open shot. In the 1989-90 season, Malone averaged 31.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Stockton averaged 17.2 points and 14.5 assists, with his assist total leading the NBA.

  The 1991-92 season brought the Jazz a new home, the Delta Center, with a seating capacity of 19,911. The venue replaced the Salt Palace, which had held just over 12,000 fans. Stockton and Malone would spend the rest of their careers there. The Finals appearances they were building toward were still a few seasons away.

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• 5. Jordan's Shadow

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  In the 1996-97 season, the Jazz posted a 64-18 record, the best in franchise history. Karl Malone won his first NBA Most Valuable Player Award that year, averaging 27.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. Utah swept the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, then defeated the Lakers 4-1 and the Houston Rockets 4-2. Those wins delivered the franchise to the NBA Finals for the first time.

  The 1997 Finals went six games, and the Jazz lost 4-2. Two games were decided in the final seconds: Chicago won Game 5 by 90-88 and Game 6 by 90-86. The Jazz made no offseason roster changes after that loss.

  John Stockton suffered a serious knee injury before the 1997-98 season and missed the first eighteen games. The Jazz went 11-7 without him, then 51-13 once he returned, finishing 62-20. In the Western Conference Finals, Utah faced a Los Angeles Lakers team that featured Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Eddie Jones, and Nick Van Exel. The Jazz won Game 1 by 112-77 and swept the series to reach the Finals again.

  The 1998 Finals opened in Salt Lake City with an 88-85 Jazz overtime victory. Chicago then won Game 2 by 93-88, took Game 3 by 96-54, and won Game 4, 86-82, to lead 3-1. The Jazz won Game 5 on the road, 83-81, forcing a Game 6 back home. Leading through much of the fourth quarter, the Jazz held the ball with Malone posting up in the final seconds. Michael Jordan stole the ball from Malone and hit a jump shot over Bryon Russell to win 87-86. Chicago won the series 4-2 for the second consecutive year. Malone was awarded his second NBA MVP the following season, during the lockout-shortened 1999 campaign in which the Jazz finished 37-13.

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• 6. After the Dynasty

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  John Stockton retired after the 2002-03 season, and Karl Malone left as a free agent to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. Several NBA preview magazines, including Sports Illustrated, expected the Jazz to finish near the bottom of the league. The 2003-04 team finished 42-40 instead, with Andrei Kirilenko, Raja Bell, and Carlos Arroyo emerging as key contributors. They missed the playoffs by one game, ending twenty consecutive years of postseason appearances.

  The 2004-05 season ended at 26-56, the worst record in franchise history since 1981-82. Injuries to multiple rotation players undermined the season from the start. In 2005, the Jazz selected point guard Deron Williams third overall in the draft. Williams developed into an All-Star. The 2006-07 Jazz finished 51-31 and reached the Western Conference Finals, where the San Antonio Spurs overpowered them.

  Jerry Sloan had guided the franchise through all of this. On the 10th of February 2011, he resigned mid-season. Thirteen days later, on the 23rd of February 2011, Williams was traded to the New Jersey Nets for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, and two first-round picks. The Jazz finished that season 39-43 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. In June 2014, Quin Snyder was named the franchise's eighth head coach, and the building blocks of a new contender were already in place.

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• 7. The Gobert-Mitchell Era

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  The Denver Nuggets selected Rudy Gobert 27th overall in the 2013 NBA draft and traded his rights to Utah on draft night. His development into one of the league's most dominant defensive players reshaped the Jazz's identity. Gobert won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2018, 2019, and 2021.

  On the 22nd of June 2017, the Denver Nuggets selected Donovan Mitchell 13th overall and immediately traded his rights to the Jazz in exchange for Trey Lyles. As a rookie, Mitchell set the all-time record for three-pointers made by a first-year NBA player and led all rookies in scoring. The Jazz had started that season 17-21 with Gobert sidelined by injury. After Mitchell became a starter, the team won 32 of their last 45 games to finish 48-34 and reach the playoffs.

  On the 30th of January 2020, both Mitchell and Gobert were named reserves for the NBA All-Star Game. It was the first time since 2000 that multiple Jazz players had appeared in the same game. In March 2020, both tested positive for COVID-19, making the Jazz the first major North American sports franchise directly affected by the pandemic. The NBA suspended its season. When play resumed that summer, Mitchell scored 57 points against the Denver Nuggets in a first-round game. That total was the third-highest single-game mark in playoff history, behind only Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor. The Jazz led the series 3-1 but blew the lead and lost in Game 7.

  The 2020-21 season opened with a franchise-record 23-5 start, the best beginning in team history. Utah eventually claimed sole possession of the league's best overall record for the first time outright. Jordan Clarkson won the Sixth Man of the Year award, becoming the first Jazz player to claim that honor. Despite the regular-season success, the Jazz were eliminated in the second round in both 2021 and 2022. By the 5th of June 2022, Quin Snyder had resigned as head coach of the Jazz. The two trades that followed that summer would redirect the franchise's course entirely.

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• 8. The Current Rebuild

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  On the 1st of July 2022, the Jazz traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The return included four future first-round draft picks alongside Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, and Walker Kessler. On the 1st of September 2022, the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That deal brought back Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, three future unprotected first-round picks, and two pick swaps.

  Lauri Markkanen became the centerpiece of the rebuild. He won the NBA Most Improved Player Award after the 2022-23 season, a year in which the Jazz finished 37-45. The 2024-25 season ended at 17-65, the worst record in franchise history. Utah became the final NBA team that season to lose sixty or more games. Despite the record, the Jazz held the fifth pick in the 2025 NBA draft and used it to select Ace Bailey.

  Keyonte George broke out in the 2025-26 season, averaging more than 20 points per game as the Jazz went 22-60. Markkanen appeared in only 42 games that year. On the 3rd of February 2026, the Jazz sent Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, and three first-round picks to Memphis. In return, they received Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar, Jock Landale, and Vince Williams Jr. The Jazz surrendered three first-round picks and four players for Jackson, a signal that the accumulation phase of the rebuild was behind them.

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