Ainge and change: Rare front office exit symbolic of Celtics' summer in flux

Ainge and change: Rare front office exit symbolic of Celtics' summer in flux originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

For the first time in 22 years, the Boston Celtics don’t have at least one member of the Ainge family on their front office staff.

Austin Ainge, who spent the past 17 seasons within the Celtics organization, morphing from the first head coach of the Maine Red Claws of the then-NBA Development League to Boston’s director of player personnel to one of the team’s assistant general managers — logging plenty of international miles scouting overseas along the way — is joining his father, Danny, on the Utah Jazz.

The younger Ainge will serve as the Jazz’s new president of basketball operations. Danny Ainge spent 19 seasons as the Celtics’ president of basketball operations before stepping down in 2021. He now serves as CEO of basketball operations for Utah.

Even when the elder Ainge departed after the 2020-21 season, the Celtics maintained a high level of front-office continuity around Brad Stevens, who elevated from coach to general manager that summer. Assistant GMs Mike Zarren (2003), Austin Ainge (2011), and Dave Lewin (2012) had all been in the organization since before Stevens’ arrival. 

Ainge’s departure occurs as the Celtics prepare for an ownership transition, with Bill Chisholm waiting for final NBA approval on his $6.1 billion purchase. Change has been rare within the Celtics organization, but things will feel undeniably different after this summer. That includes potential changes to the core of this team, as Stevens’ front-office staff must charter an offseason path through murky waters.

Austin Ainge worked hard to distinguish himself on a staff helmed by his father. We can’t remember the last draft workout that didn’t feature Austin at the forefront, handling the “I can’t say too much” media responsibilities when reporters pried him for clues.

It was clear how much pride Danny Ainge took in the way his son carved out his own role in Boston, and all the time they got to share together on work duties.

“[Austin has] been around the game his whole life,” Danny Ainge told us in 2015. “Austin was in my coaches’ meetings, Austin was on the court, he was in my huddles. He was tugging on my pant leg telling me what to do when I was a head coach in Phoenix. He’s been around it his whole life. Him and I have talked basketball — I’ve talked more basketball with him than anybody else.”

Now father and son are reunited in Utah. Austin Ainge gets to put his stamp on Utah’s rebuilding process — one that features some familiar faces, not just with his father, but also with former Celtics assistant Will Hardy as head coach of the Jazz.

But seeing Boston’s brain trust, which includes vice president of team operations and organization growth Allison Feaster, around TD Garden and on the road will simply feel different without Austin’s presence. We’ll miss the tales of his latest international odyssey and the elite list of golf courses he navigated in his travels.

The lingering question for Boston is whether the team will infuse new blood in a front office role. The Celtics were rumored to be interested in outside possibilities after Stevens’ elevation in 2021 but mainly stayed in-house while adding Feaster, who first joined the team during Danny Ainge’s tenure.

At the very least, we need to know who will be tracking the records on the so-called “Boston Marathon,” where draft prospects engage in a three-minute, full-court sprint drills after their pre-draft workouts. Austin Ainge had to be sick of us asking about who held the records each year.

In Ainge, the Celtics are losing a whole bunch of institutional knowledge and someone who understood the vision of the team. Let’s see if the addition of another Ainge in Utah leads to any additional Celtics-Jazz trade chatter as both teams figure out their path forward.