Ezra Shaw/Getty Photographs
The Utah Jazz have exercised the choice on head coach Will Hardy’s contract, the group announced on Friday.
Hardy is heading into his third season with the group. The phrases of the choice weren’t disclosed.
The 36-year-old is the second-youngest head coach within the NBA behind the Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla. He has led the Jazz to a 68-96 general file since becoming a member of the rebuilding franchise forward of the 2022-23 season.
“Will has finished an awesome job of guiding our program and instilling the fitting values and aggressive habits with our younger group,” Jazz common supervisor Justin Zanik stated in a press release. “The group appears to be like ahead to creating with Will as we attempt for long-term success by way of strategic and deliberate development.”
Hardy beforehand labored within the San Antonio Spurs group between 2010 and 2017, together with a job as an assistant video coordinator throughout the Spurs’ run to the 2014 title and 6 seasons as an assistant coach underneath Gregg Popovich.
He then served as an assistant coach for the Celtics behind Ime Udoka for one season, which was capped off by Boston’s run to the 2022 Finals, earlier than changing into the primary head teaching rent of Ryan and Ashley Smith’s tenure because the Jazz group homeowners.
The Jazz’s choice to train the choice will preserve Hardy in Salt Lake Metropolis by way of the 2025-26 season, by which level Utah could possibly be hoping to be engaged on constructing a postseason contender.
Utah has locked in Lauri Markkanen for the long-term with the August contract renegotiation and extension that can preserve the previous All-Star ahead with the Jazz by way of the 2028-29 marketing campaign.
The Jazz’s choice to increase Hardy’s contract means they consider he’s the fitting coach to assist the franchise rejoin the postseason image for the primary time since 2022.
