The Jazz have exercised a team option on head coach Will Hardy‘s contract, according to a press release issued by the club.
A former assistant in San Antonio and Boston, Hardy was hired by Utah in 2022 to replace Quin Snyder. The Jazz have a regular-season record of just 68-96 (.415) since then and haven’t made the playoffs under Hardy, but the team exceeded expectations in the first halves of both seasons before the front office traded away veterans at the February deadline.
The Jazz — who traded away stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert to jump-start a rebuild during the same offseason that Hardy was hired — are evaluating the head coach’s performance based on the job he has done developing young talent and establishing a positive culture within the organization. By those measures, his first two years have been a success, according to general manager Justin Zanik.
“Will has done a great job of guiding our program and instilling the right values and competitive habits with our young group,” Zanik said in a statement announcing the decision. “The organization looks forward to developing with Will as we strive for long-term success through strategic and deliberate growth.”
Reporting at the time of Hardy’s hiring indicated that he was signing a five-year contract; updates from Chris Haynes and Michael Scotto Friday indicate that the option being exercised is Utah’s fourth-year option for 2025-26. It’s possible Hardy actually signed a four-year contract and the details were reported incorrectly back in 2022; the team may also hold another option for the 2026-27 season.
Either way, Hardy is under contract in Utah for at least the next two seasons. If the club’s young core continues to take promising steps forward in 2024-25, it seems relatively safe to assume he’ll be extended beyond 2026.
Hardy is the NBA’s second-youngest active head coach, Scotto notes, having been born just five months before Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics.
