Four years after Danny Ainge left Boston for Utah, his son reportedly is following suit.
Celtics assistant manager Austin Ainge is [joining the Utah Jazz](https://twitter.com/TimBontemps/status/1929536015565312084) front office as the team’s new president of basketball operations, according to a report Monday from ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim Bontemps.
The younger Ainge spent the last 17 seasons with the Celtics organization, including six in his most recent role as assistant GM, in which he worked first under his father and then under current Boston president of basketball operations Brad Stevens.
Earlier in his Celtics tenure, Ainge served as head coach of the franchise’s G League affiliate (then called the Maine Red Claws) and held multiple scouting- and personnel-related roles, including stints as Boston’s director of scouting and director of player personnel. The 43-year-old previously played point guard at Brigham Young University.
Danny Ainge won two NBA championships as a Celtics player and another as the team’s top executive in 2008 before leaving the franchise in 2021, with Stevens shifting from head coach to run the Celtics’ front office following his departure. Six months later, Ainge was hired as the Jazz’s CEO and alternate governor.
Utah is in the midst of a multi-year teardown rebuild. The Jazz fielded one of the NBA’s weakest rosters this season and finished with a league-worst 17-65 record, but they were unlucky on draft lottery night, landing only the No. 5 overall pick and missing out on the chance to select highly touted top prospect Cooper Flagg.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy, who signed a contract extension last month, also is a Celtics alum, serving as an assistant under Ime Udoka in 2021-22.
Austin Ainge is the second longtime executive the Celtics [have lost this year](https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/03/11/celtics-reportedly-losing-director-of-scouting-to-college-job/). In March, the University of Arkansas hired C’s director of scouting Remy Cofield as its deputy athletics director and general manager. Cofield had been with the Celtics since 2013 and had headed up their scouting efforts since 2020.
Originally Published: June 2, 2025 at 10:19 AM EDT