The Utah Jazz are making a big addition to their entrance workplace, hiring longtime Boston Celtics govt Austin Ainge as their new President of Basketball Operations, in keeping with ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Ainge has spent the previous 14 years in Boston’s entrance workplace, beginning as Director of Participant Personnel earlier than being promoted to assistant normal supervisor, a task he has held for the final six seasons.
Throughout his tenure, Ainge was a key voice within the Celtics’ scouting and draft course of, serving to the staff determine and develop expertise in each the primary and second rounds, in addition to amongst undrafted free brokers.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Celtics’ govt ranks, Ainge served as the primary head coach of the Maine Celtics (previously referred to as the Maine Purple Claws), Boston’s G League affiliate, starting in 2009.
This transfer marks a reunion in Utah along with his father, Danny Ainge, who joined the Jazz in December 2021 as CEO of Basketball Operations and alternate governor. The elder Ainge, a former Celtics participant and the franchise’s longtime president of basketball operations, spent 18 years constructing Boston right into a perennial playoff contender earlier than stepping down following the 2020–21 season.
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Photograph by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe through Getty Pictures
The transfer leaves the Celtics with a notable emptiness of their entrance workplace throughout a important offseason. Boston, contemporary off a powerful common season and a second spherical exit, faces main wage cap selections and potential roster shake-ups along with coping with Jayson Tatum who will most probably be sidelined for the whole 2025-26 season with a torn Achilles.
Ainge had performed an important function behind the scenes in developing Boston’s depth, with latest hits within the draft and signing undrafted free brokers together with Payton Pritchard, Grant Williams, Robert Williams III, Aaron Nesmith and Sam Hauser.
Boston’s entrance workplace has already undergone adjustments in recent times, with Brad Stevens moving into the President of Basketball Operations function in 2021. Now, Stevens and his staff might want to discover a substitute for Ainge, a trusted voice within the room and a key contributor to the Celtics’ sustained success.
It isn’t but clear who will succeed Ainge in Boston.
