When the Utah Jazz hired Austin Ainge to join their front office last summer, he immediately grabbed everyone's attention by promising that the fanbase wouldn't see what they saw last year from the team.
Well, around this time last year, the Jazz finished with a record of 17-65, good for the worst team in the league (and worst record in franchise history). Fast forward to this year, and they finished with a record of 22-60. It's safe to say that not much changed from last year as five more wins didn't change where Utah ranked among other NBA teams much, if at all.
So that goes back to Ainge's comments promising that the fans wouldn't see what they saw last year. Well, they pretty much did, although this season was a little different from last year. The Jazz saw progress from players like Keyonte George and Cody Williams, Walker Kessler bowed out early with season-ending shoulder surgery, and they got their biggest trade acquisition, maybe ever, in Jaren Jackson Jr.
But they still wound up with the same result, more or less. However, concluding that Ainge bald-faced lied upon his introduction is a little harsh. He wasn't being dishonest necessarily. It was clear that Utah's best option was to change course early in the season, when they had the opportunity.
Things were looking up before Kessler's surgery
Many forget that in Utah's season opener, they straight-up destroyed the playoff hopeful Los Angeles Clippers. They were firing on all cylinders, indicating that they had the talent to be better than they were last season. However, as time went on, it was clear that progress wouldn't be so simple.
As they played more games, Utah looked better, but pre-JJJ trade, the team looked like they would round out at just average at best. If they pursued that and played to the best of their abilities, it probably would not have sat well with the fanbase with what was at play.
The 2026 NBA Draft class has been hyped up to be loaded, plus Utah was at risk of giving their pick to Oklahoma City. That was a cause for concern if the Jazz kept trying, but Kessler's season-ending surgery pretty much made their decision to tank a straightforward one again.
The Jazz would have been *not terrible* without Kessler, but they likely would have been too good to tank and too bad to miss the play-in, and that would have been the worst possible outcome for them. Even if being average was a significant step forward, it would not have been worth losing as much as Utah would have if that's what they wanted to be.
Utah made an uncomfortable decision, but still the right one. Maybe it would have been different if Kessler played this season, but it shows that not only did the team choose right, but it shows that Ainge wasn't dishonest. He just chose the path that he and Utah was more or less forced into.
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