At 36-years-old, Will Hardy is about to begin his third year as head coach of the Jazz. Friday, the team committed to him through the 2026-27 season, giving some extra job security to a young coach who hasn’t had much success so far.
Or rather, Hardy may have had too much success. He left his job as Ime Udoka’s top assistant with the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2022, the same summer the Jazz traded away All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Before Hardy’s first season was over, team president Danny Ainge had also traded Royce O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley Jr., shipping off Utah’s entire starting lineup for the previous season, along with sixth man Joe Ingles.
But while the moves indicated the Jazz’s desire to tank for a high draft pick and jump start their rebuild, Hardy hindered that plan by coaching his patchwork roster too well. The team started off 10-3 and appeared bound for a playoff berth before Ainge traded four rotation players at the deadline for Russell Westbrook and a future pick, then immediately released Westbrook. Utah still won 37 games despite a 2-9 finish with its decimated roster.
Last season, the Jazz added three rookies, then traded two more rotation players at the deadline, but still finished with 31 wins. The team is clearly not supposed to compete yet, but Hardy has cobbled together a good enough offense that the team was still picking in the late lottery.
Utah is clearly looking a few years down the road, where it has eight additional first-round picks coming in the next five drafts, thanks to trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers. They could have as many as three first-rounders in next year’s loaded draft. For now, the Jazz want to see what they have in the six high draft picks on the roster aged 21 and under, as well as 23-year-old center Walker Kessler.
This means Utah isn’t judging Hardy negatively based on his 68-96 career record. Picking up the fifth-year option before the third year of his contract is a sign of faith for a coach some regard as a top-seven talent in the NBA coaching ranks. He would have been Udoka’s successor as the Boston Celtics head coach, but Hardy had already taken the Jazz job by the time Udoka was unexpectedly fired.
It’s a great sign for Hardy’s future that he’s locked in for three more seasons. But it’s also a sign that the Jazz will be taking another patient, non-competitive approach next season. The Jazz may not be aiming for the playoffs, and they may trade veterans like Jordan Clarkson and, next summer, Lauri Markkanen, but they aren’t holding the losing against their head coach.
