Deputy Director General of Celtics, Austin Ainge, was appointed president of Utah Jazz basketball operations.
Ainge, 43, occupied a variety of roles during his 17 years in the Office Front of Celtics. He had stays as a chief coach and managing director of the team’s G subsidiary of the team in Maine, he worked as director of scouting and staff of Boston players, and he spent the last six years as deputy managing director, helping to build the list that won the NBA championship in 2024.
“You are still trying to build the next one,” said Ainge on the Globe by phone on Monday. “You win (in 2024), and if you remember it, we did a training project the next day. It is still there. But I’m really happy that we did this, and it was an incredible group and an incredible moment. But I think more like the next challenge and progress of my career.”
A league source said that Ainge’s departure has taken place quickly in recent days and that the hiring of a replacement is not imminent.
Ainge, who was a double captain at Brigham Young University as a player, will be gathered in Utah with his father, former president of Celtics basketball operations Danny AingeWho retired from his post with the Celtics after the 2020-21 season and was appointed CEO and alternative jazz governor later in 2021.
“I speak to my father three times a week anyway,” said Austin Ainge with a little laugh. “But look, we worked for 14 years together in Boston and we had a lot of fun and success. It will be fun to start again. “
In Boston, Austin Ainge was part of a very united small front office which built a NBA power with an unusual level of coherence. Basketball president Brad Stevens has been part of the team since he was hired as a coach in 2013, the vice-president of basketball operations Mike Zarren has been working for Celtics since 2005, and deputy director Dave Lewin joined the organization in 2012.
“It’s the family for me,” said Austin Ainge. “The number of hours we have spent, I’m going to miss everything. But I’m going to always talk to them all the time, just as I do with other people who went in the past. No one dies, but I’m going to fail to work with them every day because they are friends and also because they are good. They are really good. The Celtics are in good hands.”
However, Ainge said that the opportunity to enter a main role in a front office that remains in the early stages of a reconstruction was too good to pass. Jazz only succeeded in 17-65 last season and will organize four choices in the draft this month, including selections n ° 5 and 21.
In addition to joining his father, Ainge will work alongside the director general Justin Zanik and the former assistant coach of the Celtics, Will Hardy, who enters his fourth season as a chief coach.
“The property is great and it’s just the next progression of my career,” said Ainge. “A little done a lot in Boston and we have been very successful over the years, and the chance to manage my own team is a large part. And jazz has a lot of potential, man. It is a lot of work, but a lot of potential.”
The reconstruction of the Celtics after the end of the Paul Pierce era and Kevin Garnett was remarkably rapid, accelerated by the massive trade of 2013 with the Nets in which Boston acquired reposting choices that were used to select Jaylen Brown (2016) and Jayson Tatum (2017).
The Celtics have reached the final of the Eastern Conference in six of the last nine seasons, with two appearances in the NBA final and the only championship.
“I learned everything here from so many people,” said Ainge. “But yes, we have built how many different teams over the years? And you make a million errors and have successes and work with a lot of great people and coaches and you learn and grow. I spent 17 years there, so it was fun.”
Adam Himmelsbach has adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @Adamhimmelsbach.
