From 2013-2022, Alex Jensen was a mainstay on the Utah Jazz’s bench, serving on the staffs of head coaches Ty Corbin, Quin Snyder and Will Hardy.
Starting next season, though, Jensen’s coaching career will continue with the Dallas Mavericks.
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jensen has agreed to take a position with the Mavericks, working with Dallas head coach Jason Kidd.
A former standout college basketball player at the University of Utah, Jensen, along with Irv Roland, was not brought back to be on Hardy’s staff in Utah for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
Both Jensen and Roland had been a part of Snyder’s staff and were retained by the Jazz during the first year of Hardy’s tenure.
While coaching under Snyder, Jensen became Utah’s lead assistant coach and was considered one of the top assistant coaches in the NBA, according to a survey of the league’s general managers.
He also played an integral role in the development of All-NBA center Rudy Gobert.
“Since my rookie year, when I wasn’t playing, he (Jensen) was there, putting the time in to help me grow as a player,” Gobert told the Deseret News’ Sarah Todd during the spring of 2021.
“He would come in late, come back in the afternoon, at night, come to France, to my camp ... just spending a lot of time with me and really help me grow as a person and as a player. And he’s someone that’s always told me the truth.”
Jensen interviewed for multiple NBA head coaching jobs during his time with the Jazz and was a candidate for the men’s basketball head coaching job at the University of Utah in 2021 that eventually went to Craig Smith.
Per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the addition of Jensen to the Dallas coaching staff should be seen a major positive for Mavericks rookie center Dereck Lively II, considering Jensen’s success with Gobert, and more recently Jazz center Walker Kessler, who was a first-team All-Rookie player this past season.
Wrote MacMahon: “He (Lively) should benefit tremendously from Jensen joining the Mavs’ staff.”
Jensen is just the latest with ties to the Utah Jazz to join the Mavs. Former Utah Jazz lottery pick Dante Exum signed with Dallas on the first day of free agency, after a stint in Europe.
Former Utah Jazz team president Dennis Lindsay is also working with Dallas, as a consultant.