The Utah Jazz are reportedly losing their second assistant coach in less than two weeks to another NBA team’s front office.
On Thursday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Dell Demps — one of former Jazz coach Quin Snyder’s top assistants — is leaving to join the Minnesota Timberwolves’ front office.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are hiring Jazz assistant coach and former Pelicans GM Dell Demps as part of new President Tim Connelly’s front office, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 9, 2022
Demps joins Sergi Oliva, whom ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on May 30 was leaving the Jazz for an assistant general manager position with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Rumors have been swirling in recent days that Demps would be leaving for the Timberwolves, where he’ll join new team president Tim Connelly, who made a surprise move to Minnesota after a long and successful tenure leading the Denver Nuggets front office.
As Charania indicated, this will mark a return to a front office role for Demps. Before joining the Jazz as a coach in September 2020, Demps had been the New Orleans Pelicans’ top executive from 2010-2019 and was in the San Antonio Spurs’ front office before that.
It was during his time with the Spurs that he got to know Snyder, who was head coach of the franchise’s D-League (now G League) team, the Austin Toros, from 2007-2010.
In July 2020, Snyder told reporters how he and Demps became close friends over regular trips to a coffee shop in Austin and “had some great meetings and developed a great relationship.”