Utah Jazz: Justin Zanik staying with the organization… for now

Utah Jazz general manager Justin Zanik didn’t get the job he interviewed for with the Chicago Bulls a couple days ago. For now, he remains in the Jazz front office.

This week has been pretty boring for those who like to closely follow the Utah Jazz. Donovan Mitchell got knocked out of the NBA players’ 2K Tournament on Sunday, which was a bummer since I was hopeful he could go to at least the semi-finals of the bracket.

The lone piece of news affecting the Utah Jazz this week was the potential of losing recently promoted general manager Justin Zanik. For years, Zanik worked alongside Dennis Lindsey as his assistant.

He took a job in Milwaukee as an assistant GM with the intent that he would eventually take over as general manager duties in Brew City. But when the Bucks opted to hire Jon Horst, Zanik returned back to Utah.

The Jazz promoted Dennis Lindsey to a higher role as Vice President of Basketball Operations last May, giving more of the hands-on control to Justin Zanik, who they promoted to General Manager. Zanik helped the Jazz accomplish big things the following summer, signing Bojan Bogdanovic and trading for Mike Conley.

I for one was excited for Zanik and his future with the Jazz. I assumed he would slowly take over the reins of the team the way Lindsey did when Kevin O’Connor was gearing up for retirement. But the Chicago Bulls came knockin’ at Zanik’s door (figuratively of course) with the potential of an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Had they offered him the job in Chicago, he would’ve had even more control of the team’s transactions than he does here in Utah. They probably could’ve offered him more money, as they are one of basketball’s most beloved cities in the country.

A city that is starving for a great team they haven’t enjoyed since Derrick Rose was the youngest player ever to win the MVP award. On top of all of that, Zanik originates from the midwest, and he attended college at Northwestern University, less than 20 miles away from the United Center.

Jazz fans can breathe a sigh of relief now, since the Bulls opted to hire Arturas Karnisovas of the Denver Nuggets to fill their top executive role in the front office.

From the very little I’ve been able to get to know about Justin Zanik, I can tell he’s a very ambitious man. He sets high goals for himself and works hard to achieve them. His career path he took to becoming an NBA executive tells you all you need to know.

He originally was studying to become a professional opera singer in college, but wound up graduating with an economics degree. When he was coaching a sixth grade basketball team, he rubbed shoulders with Mark Bartelstein and got offered an internship to work in his office.

The rest as they say, is history. Zanik became a respected agent in the league for 15 years thanks to his negotiating skills.

So am I honestly surprised that Zanik was interviewed for the job in Chicago this week? Not really. He had his eyes on the big prize of general manager in Milwaukee, and he was a finalist for jobs with the Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers in 2018 before being promoted here in Utah.

Hopefully Zanik will be able to stay here in Utah as Dennis Lindsey slowly fades out of the picture, and one day JZ will be the top executive for the Jazz. I hope that day comes.

But until those years pass by, don’t be surprised to hear of Zanik being a finalist for other executive jobs around the league.