Rumors

Regardless, sources indicate that the Jazz are also undecided on what to do at No. 2. Do not expect, however, that connections to Cameron Boozer through his father Carlos (who works in the Jazz front office) or Dybantsa through team owner Ryan Smith at BYU will be the deciding factor here.

New York Times

League sources say Kessler, meanwhile, has long wanted to remain in Utah but is extremely disappointed with the way his situation is being handled. What’s more, there has long been an expectation that he would be a long-term priority, and part of the solution, after the Jazz spent recent years in rebuilding mode under the direction of owner Ryan Smith.

New York Times

Days after winning the No. 2 pick in the draft lottery, Jazz owner Ryan Smith said "everything should be on the table" when asked directly in an interview with the Deseret News if the organization would trade up to No. 1 to presumably select Dybantsa. "We don't control that," Smith said. "We are trying to win a championship. So everything should be on the table. Austin and Danny (Ainge) have also been known to do some pretty crazy stuff on draft night."

CBSSports.com

BYUtv Sports Nation: Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith on if they will trade up for AJ Dybantsa.

Twitter

As soon as the lottery was revealed Sunday, the immediate question around the league and industry was whether the Utah Jazz, holding the No. 2 pick, might make an eventual overture to trade up to No. 1 to select AJ Dybantsa. This is factoring in the strong ties between Utah owner Ryan Smith, CEO Danny Ainge and president of basketball operations Austin Ainge to BYU.

ESPN

Inside a sterile room on the edge of Lake Michigan, Austin Ainge let out a “yes” that cut through the quiet. “Well, I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing,” Ainge justified later, smirking. The Utah Jazz’s president of basketball operations spent the last year trying to create NBA draft lottery luck in a place where none previously existed. Not only did he guide his team to 60 losses to secure the fourth-best odds, he personally surveyed every potential draft room representative to see who had the best fortune — only to see the battle scars of the past four years laid out in front of him. “Who wants it?” Ainge asked among the Jazz’s front office executives. “Justin Zanik said he’d already gone and lost. [Danny Ainge] same thing. Ryan Smith went and didn’t get the pick. You’re all fired, I said. I’ll be the one to go.”

Salt Lake Tribune

During a recent appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ Smith spoke about how the Jazz haven’t benefitted from any supposed tanking since he’s been team owner, and how the approach the NBA is taking needs to be refocused a little bit. “I’m also taking over a franchise that’s never won the lottery, never moved up in the draft. At some point the math’s got to start mathing,” Smith said. “We’re gonna figure out a solution. I trust Adam, the ownership group is incredible around the league, we’re not afraid to battle it out. There’s options about flattening it, options about putting restrictions in there, but the most important thing is, what is the rebuild experience for the NBA, and how long do we want these teams to come in. “When you go out on the court, I don’t care who you are, our players are playing to win … you saw that with us, we didn’t finish with the worst record … our guys want to win every single night.”

Clutch Points

Andy Larsen: Maybe too inside baseball but I can guarantee you the Ryan Smith/Bobby Marks situation this week does not happen in the Justin Zanik running-the-Jazz/Adrian Wojnarowski running-ESPN's-NBA-coverage era

bsky.app

Ryan Smith: agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense …

x.com

Ryan Smith: Hey Bobby… maybe sit this one out. You have no clue what paying this is like and your amnesia this week is comical.

x.com

Lauri Markkanen: My guy 🤞🏼

Twitter

Ryan Smith, who was taking on a Herculean task of relocating the team to Salt Lake in a matter of months, asked players and staff what they needed. The response included everything from better travel and nutrition to, yes, a facility for training. He shakes his head at how far they’ve come. “We didn’t get into sports to be like, ‘Hey, we want to conquer the world,’” Smith tells The Athletic. “It was very much community-based. We really had to keep asking, ‘What are we doing?’ In a world that’s completely divided, (sports) bring everyone together. That’s our ‘why’ and what keeps us going.”

New York Times

Ryan and Ashley Smith’s company, Smith Entertainment Group, is gutting the 34-year-old Delta Center to make it more fan-friendly for both basketball and hockey. Plans are underway for a $3 billion-plus downtown overhaul by the arena, connecting the sports teams to the cultural and convention centers, with construction expected to be mostly complete before the 2034 Olympics. The Mammoth already boast a season-ticket base of 10,000 full-season equivalents for what will be a 12,266-seat capacity this season and around 17,000 after the upper bowl is renovated by the start of the 2027-28 season. They did not disclose the breakdown of this year’s season-ticket equivalents, but last year, they capped full-season packages at 8,000 and also sold partial-season packages that added up to another 2,500 full seasons.

New York Times

Smith’s summer project was a pledge to help build up to 20 local rinks, offering $500,000 each to get them started. According to SEG, five municipalities are now in different stages of development. Smith wants the Junior Mammoth program to mirror the Junior Jazz, which according to SEG is the largest youth basketball organization in the NBA with 70,000 participants. The goal is to be a picture of stability as an NHL organization. And to win the Stanley Cup — multiple times. No, Smith isn’t intending to build an “empire” here in Salt Lake. It just feels that way.

New York Times