Ryan Smith addresses Utah Jazz struggles, fan frustration: ‘We’re not panicking’
Nov 6, 2026, 2:21 PM | Updated: 2:45 pm
Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith during a Salt Lake City Summer League game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The start to the Utah Jazz’s 2026-27 season has been far from perfect.
Injuries, poor shooting, and inconsistency have led to a 1-7 record, the third-worst start to a season in franchise history.
Jazz owner Ryan Smith’s response? Stay the course.
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Smith hopped on the KSL Sports Zone on Friday morning and covered a wide range of topics from fan reactions to the timeline of the young group and more.
Ryan Smith on managing season expectations
After drafting Darryn Peterson, the hype surrounding the Utah Jazz was at heights unseen this decade.
Through the first 10 percent of the season, those expectations have been tempered, to say the least.
A reality that many missed, whether intentionally or not, is that winning takes time.
Smith recalled a preseason conversation in which he acknowledged that neither a hot nor cold start would tell the full story of the group.
I remember the beginning of the season, sitting down with Will (Hardy) and Danny (Ainge) and Austin (Ainge), and (saying), ‘We’re going to be playing two 19-year-olds and Keyonte (George) at 22. I think if we start out 10-3, that’s not us, and if we start out 3-10, that’s not us.
No one’s ducking where we’re at. We’re going to have to go through it. But if I look at our season so far, there’s been really, really bright spots. I mean, we came out (with) 47 points in the first quarter against the Lakers. I think collectively, the inconsistency is what’s been super frustrating, and I think it’s frustrating for everyone. But that takes time.
With so many young players getting solid rotation minutes, inconsistency is a given.
And though being asked to wait longer after years of waiting may hurt, that’s the reality of rebuilding in the NBA.
Ryan Smith on the shot callers in the Jazz organization
Sports discourse is extremely reactionary.
After one bad game or a bad month, the conversation centers around what needs to change right now.
The Jazz have faced that reality after a little over two weeks of subpar basketball. But Smith isn’t fazed and remains hopeful for the group’s ability and potential.
Will’s our guy. Austin’s our guy. We’re not changing anything. We’re gonna go through this. We’re gonna work together. We got Danny (Ainge). I love our group. Now, we need to we need to start turning it up, and we’re going to.
We have incredible people. These are championship pedigree people. They know what it looks like. We’re going through it (together).
The Jazz are in a unique position where results matter, but not getting positive results isn’t a death sentence.
There are teams in the NBA that may have an older core or expiring contracts and actually need a high seed or a deep playoff run in order to stay relevant in the coming years.
Cont…
“Now, we need to start turning it up, and we’re going to. It’ll be very different once we get a couple of these guys back from a consistency standpoint.
We’re not happy with the start by any means. But there’s only so many levers you can pull given where you’re at in the season. We’re definitely looking at this as a 2-3-4 year (journey), and our goal is to win a championship.”
— Chandler Holt (@CHoltSports) November 6, 2026
Utah is just now starting its competitive path. As previously stated, inconsistency was always going to be a part of that journey.
And yes, sometimes there is a need to shake things up. But with the stakes relatively low at this point, keeping things consistent at the top of an organization can pay dividends.
Ryan Smith on the growing pains of young players
Maybe the biggest talking point in Smith’s interview on Friday was the development of the young players.
As the No. 2 and No. 5 overall picks in their respective drafts, a Jazz championship team may end up going as Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey go.
Smith talked about how those two have done a lot of good things and shown flashes early in the season, even though the shots may not be falling.
When it comes to development, it’s the whole organization. For Keyonte, you started to see it in year two. He got stronger. I mean, it was it was night and day. Ace the same thing. Ace put on like 15 pounds of muscle, and that’s probably as impactful as anything as you start going through the development. But we really like what we see out of DP early on.
All of this to say, development isn’t linear. That goes for individuals and entire teams.
Ryan Smith’s message to Utah Jazz fans
Smith’s message wasn’t that fans shouldn’t be upset with the team’s performance. In fact, he acknowledged that their frustration is warranted.
From a fan standpoint, I get it. We all get it, but there’s only one way to kind of get through it, which is to go through it. I’m super empathetic for our fans. I freaking love our fans. It’s one of the most special things about Utah. It is just different, and I never want to tell our fans how to fan because I’m one of them.
I signed up for the smoke. I’m in the smoke business. We understand where the team’s at and the frustration. It’s all warranted. We’ll get through it, and we’ll flip everyone to where they can get that same excitement that they all felt. And that excitement’s real. We’re seeing it behind the scenes.
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“I’m super empathetic for our fans. I freaking love our fans. Like it’s one of the most special things about Utah. It is just different, and I never want to tell our fans how to fan because I’m one of them.”
— Chandler Holt (@CHoltSports) November 6, 2026
So whether you’ve hopped off the Jazz hype train, or were never really on it in the first place, there’s no hard feelings.
You’re welcome to hop back on at the next stop.
