Jazz To Hire David Fizdale As Associate General Manager

Former Grizzlies and Knicks coach David Fizdale is joining the Jazz front office as associate general manager, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Clearly, Utah is ready to get itself set for next season, as the Fizdale news coincides with the reports that the Jazz are finalizing a deal to hire Celtics assistant Will Hardy as coach, as we relayed here.

Ian Begley of SNY.tv revealed last week that the Jazz were interviewing Fizdale for a front-office job, and it appears they are ready to pull the trigger.

Fizdale spent this past season as an assistant under Frank Vogel with the Lakers. He was not retained by new LA coach Darvin Ham, who is bringing in his own coaching staff.

Fizdale was considered a coaching candidate as the Jazz look to fill the vacancy created by Quin Snyder‘s departure. That was mostly because of Jazz minority owner Dwyane Wade, who played with the Heat when Fizdale was an assistant there under Erik Spoelstra.

But he reportedly was not among those who interviewed for the Utah coaching job. Danny Ainge serves as Jazz CEO of basketball operations, while Justin Zanik is the GM. 

Fizdale, 48, went 71-134 in four seasons with the Grizzlies and Knicks. He was fired by New York after a 4-18 start in 2019-20.