60 Facts About Utah Jazz

Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City.

The Utah Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league's Western Conference, Northwest Division.

Utah Jazz were one of the least successful teams in the league in their early years.

On June 7,1974, the New Orleans Utah Jazz were admitted as an expansion franchise into the National Basketball Association .

Later, the Utah Jazz played games in the cavernous Louisiana Superdome, but things were no better, because of high demand for the stadium, onerous lease terms, and Maravich's constant knee problems.

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The pick would have been the Utah Jazz's had they not traded it to acquire Gail Goodrich two years earlier.

Also, the Utah Jazz had given up the rights to Moses Malone in order to regain one of the three first-round picks used for the Goodrich trade; the combination of Johnson and Malone blossoming into Hall of Famers and Goodrich's ineffective, injury-ruined few years in New Orleans made this transaction one of the most lopsided in NBA history.

The Utah Jazz preserved the original Mardi Gras-themed colors: green, purple, and gold.

Utah Jazz had been confident that the Lakers would take Wilkins, which would have given them a shot at either of the other top forwards .

However, Utah Jazz was not aware that the Lakers had researched both Worthy and Wilkins and decided on Worthy out of concern about Wilkins' perceived selfishness.

Battistone's continued financial problems, combined with Wilkins making it clear he did not want to play in Utah, resulted in the Jazz sending Wilkins to Atlanta in return for John Drew and Freeman Williams.

Utah Jazz fans were not happy when the team picked an unknown guard in the first round of the 1984 NBA draft, John Stockton.

However, the Utah Jazz returned to the playoffs, facing the Houston Rockets and their All-Star centers, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson.

Adrian Dantley, the team's star player who had carried them through the early years in Utah Jazz, was traded to Detroit for Kelly Tripucka, who ended up splitting time with Thurl Bailey.

The Utah Jazz won 51 games and the Midwest Division championship as they grew better overall.

Eaton won Defensive Player of the Year for the second time, and it appeared the Utah Jazz were ready to take the next step toward contending for an NBA title, after having pushed the Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals the previous season.

However, the second-seeded Utah Jazz were eliminated in the first round in three games by the seventh-seeded Golden State Warriors.

Again, the Utah Jazz were left with questions as to how they could do so well in the regular season but fail to advance in the playoffs.

The Utah Jazz moved to the Delta Center, a state-of-the-art arena that featured a seating capacity of 19,911.

On February 17,1998, at the NBA trade deadline, the Utah Jazz consummated a trade with the Orlando Magic, to acquire center Rony Seikaly in an attempt to bolster their center rotation.

Utah Jazz played better after Stockton returned from his early-season injury.

The Utah Jazz swept the Lakers and earned a second consecutive trip to the NBA Finals.

The Utah Jazz missed the playoffs by one game to the Denver Nuggets, ending a streak of 20 consecutive seasons in the playoffs.

In summer 2005, the Utah Jazz continued to change their roster by trading three draft picks to acquire the number 3 overall pick, which they used to select Deron Williams.

The Utah Jazz stayed in the playoff race until the third-to-last game, when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks.

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The Utah Jazz were heralded by several major sports websites for drafting well and making good off-season moves.

The Utah Jazz went on to face the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors, who were coming off a historic upset of the number 1-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

The Utah Jazz then faced the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals, but lost to the more experienced Spurs, 4 games to 1 in the series.

Utah Jazz again faced the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, this time as a number 4 seed .

However, the Utah Jazz held up their great home win record and defeated Los Angeles in Games 3 and 4.

The Utah Jazz lost game 5 in Los Angeles and were eliminated in Game 6.

Rumors circulated that Boozer wanted a trade, fueled by whisperings that the Utah Jazz were shopping him after he chose to opt into the last year of his contract; however, the team stated publicly that they did not seek to trade him.

The Utah Jazz added rookie Wesley Matthews to the lineup after an impressive training camp.

The Utah Jazz turned the transaction into a sign-and-trade one day later, receiving a trade exception worth around $13 million in return from Chicago.

Less than a week after the Boozer loss, the Utah Jazz traded Kosta Koufos and two future first-round picks to Minnesota for Al Jefferson, using the trade exception from the Boozer deal to receive Jefferson's contract without exceeding the salary cap.

On June 15,2010, the Utah Jazz unveiled a new color scheme and logo, which represented a return to the old 'music note' logo.

Utah Jazz tendered restricted free-agent center Kyrylo Fesenko a $1 million qualifying offer in June 2010.

On February 23,2011, the Utah Jazz traded star player Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets for players Derrick Favors and Devin Harris, as well as two first-round draft picks .

The Utah Jazz signed Mo Williams and Randy Foye, both former Clippers, and re-signed Jeremy Evans and Tinsley during the off-season.

The Utah Jazz named Dennis Lindsey as general manager and Kevin O'Connor as vice president of basketball operations.

Longtime assistant coach Scott Layden left Utah Jazz to be a part of the San Antonio Spurs front office.

On May 20,2014, the Utah Jazz earned the 5th pick in the 2014 NBA draft at the NBA Draft Lottery, with which they chose 18-year-old Australian point guard Dante Exum.

The Utah Jazz acquired veteran Ricky Rubio to play the point guard position.

On May 10,2019, the Utah Jazz announced the promotion of Dennis Lindsey to executive vice president of basketball operations and Justin Zanik to general manager.

On December 24,2019, the Utah Jazz announced that they had waived forward Jeff Green, signed G-League free agent Rayjon Tucker, and traded Dante Exum to the Cleveland Cavaliers for shooting guard Jordan Clarkson, whose trade in particular was seen as overwhelmingly positive by the media, if bittersweet for Utah Jazz fans who hoped that Exum would eventually mature into the franchise cornerstone he was drafted to be.

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On October 28,2020, the Utah Jazz organization announced that Ryan Smith, a Utah native and the billionaire co-founder of Qualtrics, had purchased the team from the Miller family.

Smith agreed at the time of the sale to honor the terms of the legacy trust into which the Millers had placed the Jazz organization, including the provision requiring the team to be kept in Utah.

The Utah Jazz subsequently announced that independent counsel had been retained by the organization to investigate whether the allegations were true.

On July 1,2022, the Utah Jazz traded three time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award winner Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, and Walker Kessler, the number 22 selection in the 2022 NBA draft.

The Utah Jazz acquired four future first round draft picks from the Timberwolves.

Utah Jazz have not historically had a natural or fierce rival where each team has been competitive with the other over a long period of time.

However, the Utah Jazz have played several teams more than once in the NBA playoffs.

Utah Jazz have played the Houston Rockets eight times in the playoffs with the Utah Jazz winning the series five times.

Utah Jazz had a brief rivalry with the Chicago Bulls, in the late 1990s, when the two teams faced off in the 1997 and 1998 Finals.

Utah Jazz are the only team in the NBA history to have never lost 60 or more games in a season.

Utah Jazz Bear usually excites the crowd during halftime by coming onto the court on a motorbike.

On June 15,2010, the Utah Jazz unveiled a new logo and color scheme on the team's official website.

Utah Jazz unveiled an alternate jersey on December 9,2011, that is similar to their road jersey, but swaps the navy and green colors so that the primary color is green, with a navy stripe on the side.

Utah Jazz have worn the original J-note uniforms on three separate occasions.

Utah Jazz hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA.