The Utah Jazz have never won an NBA Championship, but have employed exactly 22 NBA players who won a title before or after their time with the Jazz in the franchise's history. Jordan Clarkson was the latest addition to the list, joining Kevin Love and Svi Mykhailiuk, both of whom are expected to be back with the team next season, pending any surprises.
For the record, this list also won't include players who were NBA Champions that were only technically traded to the Jazz but never wore a Jazz uniform, so don't be thinking PJ Tucker or Otto Porter Jr. will be on this list.
Since we've already mentioned Love, Clarkson, and Mykhailiuk, who Jazz fans are currently very well aware of, we're going to a trip down memory lane to
The most well-known Jazz alumni to win the title
Admittedly, some of these players are considered more recognizable than others simply because they just recently played for the Jazz. Others are all-timers who made a pit stop. Funny enough, though, said pit stop in New Orleans, not Utah, but it still counts. And there are others who are more recognizable because they made their mark in Jazz history.
Let's start with the one remembered most fondly.
Mehmet Okur
Okur became one of the best-known Jazzmen of the 2000s. After winning a title with Detroit in 2004, Okur blossomed with the Jazz, becoming one of the league's better stretch bigs while also playing a key role in their success led by Deron Williams. It's no coincidence that his decline coincided with that team.
Shandon Anderson
Anderson is probably the most notable Jazz alum to win a title after he left the team. After being a key reserve on their two Finals teams in the late 90s, he bounced around a bit before he went out on top with the Miami Heat in 2006. By then, he was a benchwarmer, but Anderson was the first alum to make the team proud
Patty Mills
After Clarkson, Mykhailiuk, and Love, Mills is the most recent NBA champion to have ties with the Jazz. His time on the team was short-lived. While he wasn't the same player who helped San Antonio win in 2014, he was a veteran presence added to influence the youngsters.
Talen Horton-Tucker
When the Jazz went full rebuild in 2022, they figured what could it hurt to add a young NBA Champion with some scoring prowess? Well, it's not like THT did much damage, but it is a shame he just couldn't quite figure it out in Utah, even though the Lakers were so high on him after winning the title in 2020.
Jeff Green
It's debatable whether Green is really a notable Jazz alum, given he was such a bust that they waived him mid-season in 2020. He gets the nod here because he recently went on to win a title with the Denver Nuggets in 2023, and his career is impressively still alive despite it having legitimately almost died after his brief time in Utah.
Derek Fisher
Fisher is one of the winningest players in NBA history, who only played one season for the Jazz (2006-07). At the same time, he was a role player on the most successful Jazz team post-Malone and Stockton. It is a shame his time with the team was cut short, but it was cool to have a playoff-tested vet on the team.
Boris Diaw
Diaw was a fun cheap addition to the Jazz in 2016, only two years after he won a title with San Antonio. He was on his last legs, but he was a rotation big on a pretty exciting Jazz team featuring Gordon Hayward at full throttle. With Utah aiming to go on a playoff run, Diaw at least did his part.
Mo Williams
Williams gets the nod in this category because he played for the Jazz twice (2003-04, then 2012-13), and also got to go out on top in his second stint with Cleveland in 2016. Williams may not have done much for the Jazz, but he wasn't a nobody either time. Plus, he had some nice things to say about Utah since his playing days ended.
Richard Jefferson
Originally a salary dump so that Golden State could get their hands on Andre Iguodala, Jefferson partially resurrected his value enough in his lone season with the Jazz (2013-14) that it led to Cleveland taking a flyer on him that made all the difference in their title run in 2016.
Spencer Haywood
Now we've approached the section where Hall of Famers technically played for the Jazz. Haywood was a one-year rental for the Jazz and actually wanted out when the team relocated to Utah. This led to the Haywood-for-Adrian Dantley swap, which led to Haywood winning his first title in 1980 in LA while Dantley became one of the first franchise legends.
Gail Goodrich
Goodrich's prime was long gone by the time he joined the Jazz in New Orleans, but he was still a solid contributor. Helping the Lakers win the 1972 NBA title, Goodrich was a decent contributor on the Jazz from 1976 to 1979. It's just too bad that the Jazz adding him more or less got them to miss out on Magic Johnson.
The more obscure alumni
If you're ever at a Jazz-centric trivia night, the info right here can help you out when they're asking about Jazz champions no one would think of!
Ian Clark
Clark didn't make much of a mark in his two years in Utah from 2013-15, but then became a quasi-contributor on arguably the most dominant NBA team of all time when he helped Golden State win it all in 2017.
Brandon Rush
Rush was also part of the deal that helped the Warriors get Iguodala in 2013. Unlike Jefferson, his brief stint in Utah was pretty uneventful before returning to the Warriors, where he, too, got a title in 2017.
Deshawn Stevenson
Stevenson was a Jazzman during the tail end of the Malone-Stockton era, where he gradually came into his own in his final season with the team (2003-04). Seven years later, Stevenson became the deisgnated "LeBron stopper" on the Dallas Mavericks that went on to win the 2011 NBA title.
Devin Brown
A lot of Spurs alumni are on this list, and Brown is one of them. He joined the Jazz the year after he got a title with the Spurs in 2005. He was onle a one-year rental and did just fine as a rotation player just as the D-Will era had begun.
Francisco Elson
Another Spurs alum who won a title with them in 2007. A solid rotation big throughout his career, Elson was at the end of his rope when he joined the Jazz in 2010. It's sad that he had to be there for the Deron Williams fallout, but Utah played him regularly (62 games) despite his numbers not being too gaudy.
Tony Massenburg
Last Spurs alum guys, I promise! Anyway, Massenburg was among the more notable journeymen of his era, having played for 12 NBA teams (some of them multiple times). He had a pit stop in Utah in the 2002-03 season before going out on top on the Spurs with Brown in 2005.
Henry Bibby
Among the first Jazzmen ever, Bibby won a title with the Knicks in 1973 as a rookie. He wasn't among the more notable alumni ever, but he symbolizes how long the franchise has been alive, even if that was technically in New Orleans.
Bobby Hansen
Hansen was a rotation player as the Malone-Stockton era came into full swing. He wasn't a nobody either, as he once finished in the league's top 10 for Defensive Player of the Year in 1988. His days as a Jazzman ended in 1990, to which he then went out on top with MJ's Bulls in 1992.
As you can see, this is a pretty extensive list. Hopefully, in due time, we won't be talking about the former Jazzmen who have won a championship, but the current as well.
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