After six straight seasons of making the playoffs, the Utah Jazz went in another direction this summer, with general manager Justin Zanik initiating a massive teardown and beginning a rebuild.
On Tuesday, owner Ryan Smith gave Zanik the job security to not rush the process, handing the GM a multiyear contract extension.
“I’m just really grateful to Ryan, ownership, Danny [Ainge], the entire staff that I get a chance to continue the work that we’re doing here,” Zanik said in a meeting with reporters on Tuesday. “My family loves the city, the state, the organization, so we’re excited to get a chance to continue to work with everybody here. That means a lot to me.”
There had been some speculation about Zanik’s long-term future with the franchise after Smith brought in Ainge this past December to serve as CEO.
About 3.5 years ago, the Utah Jazz announced a couple of front office promotions, with Dennis Lindsey becoming Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Zanik being named General Manager.
Lindsey lasted about two years in his new role before “stepping down” to become a “team advisor” — though The Salt Lake Tribune reported that it was more of a shake-up initiated by owner Smith.
As for Zanik, both Smith and Ainge made it clear at the time that he would be the guy heading up basketball operations. “If you’re in the league, everyone knows to call Justin right now,” Smith said. Meanwhile, Ainge spelled out that his role would be different than the one he held with the Boston Celtics, as he no longer wanted to work 14- to 16-hour days: “I’m not going to be the guy that’s running the day-to-day — that’s going to be Justin.”
On Tuesday, Ainge joked that his unwillingness to play a bigger role in the front office left Smith no choice but to keep Zanik around longer.
“I don’t want to do that, and I’m not. Thank goodness for Justin. That’s why we re-signed Justin — J.Z. does the 14-hour days,” he said, smiling.
Smith, meanwhile, said that Zanik has played and will continue to play a vital role in the organization’s decision-making team.
“Justin’s been pretty instrumental since I got here. I think he’s been someone who … it’s refreshing to work with,” Smith said. “He’s got a unique skill set in the league. He’s spent a lot of time in the league building relationships. And I think within our group, you want as many perspectives as you can get around the table without making it hard to make decisions. And I think with D.A., myself, Justin, [assistant GM David Fizdale], it’s been pretty seamless. I think it’s been refreshing, it’s fun — it’s fun to come in to work. And J.Z.’s been a big part of that. He keeps a lot of the trains running on time.”
Zanik began his career in basketball as a player agent, first with Priority Sports and Entertainment, then with ASM Sports.
He joined the Jazz in 2013 as an assistant general manager. He spent the 2016-17 season in the same capacity with the Milwaukee Bucks, with a promise from management that he was the GM-in-waiting. However, a subsequent change in ownership with that organization scuttled those plans, and the next season, he returned to the Jazz.
Zanik said upon his 2019 promotion that he was pleased to continue working as a cog within the team’s “very collaborative process,” and that his simple goal was “to be the last team standing at the end of the day.”
Obviously, the Jazz are now further away from that goal than they were at the time.
Following another early playoff ouster this past May, and faced with a future that projected few options to substantial improvement — given the team’s soaring payroll and dubious recent history of attaching future draft picks to no-longer-desirable players in order to get them onto other teams’ books — Zanik and Ainge have embarked upon a massive rebuild.
Zanik acknowledged that “the team fell short” of its goals, and that “we need to recalibrate and try to go open up the next window.”
And after an offseason that saw the team trade away franchise centerpieces Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, plus fellow starters Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale, in an effort to amass intriguing youngsters and — more importantly — an absolute haul of future draft capital, Smith and Ainge clearly see the value in making Zanik a continued part of that process.
“He’s been great. It’s been fun working with him,” Ainge said. “He’s got a lot of connections around the league, he’s well-respected in the NBA — and internally, as well.”
Zanik’s new deal evokes the five-year contract the organization gave to new head coach Hardy this summer — a bit of long-term security to ease the sting of the losses to come in the immediate future.
