Austin Ainge on leaving the Boston Celtics, new role with Utah Jazz

The Boston Celtics front office just got smaller, with assistant general manager Austin Ainge reportedly taking the open President of Basketball Operations gig for the Utah Jazz. The Celtics exec will reunite with his father Danny, who, after a playing career in Boston got him a pair of titles, would later return as an executive himself, stepping down from the role in Boston in favor of current Celtics president Brad Stevens before taking on his current role as Jazz CEO.

Per the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, the move came about in a hurry, with no replacement currently planned to join the Celtics’ front office, now helmed by Stevens, vice president of basketball operations Mike Zarren, and assistant general manager Dave Lewin. “They’re family to me,” Ainge said. “The amount of hours we spent, I’ll miss everything. But I’ll still talk to them all the time, just like I do with other people that have left in the past.”

“Nobody’s dying, but I’ll definitely miss working with them every day because they’re friends and also because they’re good,” he added. “They’re really good. The Celtics are in good hands.”