| Utah Jazz | |
|---|---|
| Position | General manager |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1974-10-02)October 2, 1974 (age 50) Kansas |
Justin Zanik (born October 2, 1974) is thegeneral manager of theUtah Jazz.[1]
Zanik has been a certifiedNBAPA since 2003.
Zanik grew up inMissouri, and attendedNorthwestern University to earn aB.A. degree in economics from 1993 to 1998. While in college, Zanik was a member of theDelta Tau Delta fraternity and initially a major in music opera before pivoting to economics.[2]
Zanik met player agent Mark Bartelstein, founder ofPriority Sports and Entertainment, while volunteering as a coach of a sixth-grade basketball team.
Zanik's first job after college wasPriority Sports and Entertainment (1998–2002) as VP of basketball operations where he managed European contract negotiations in the Chicago office. While working for Priority Sports, he met his wife, Gina, who also worked with the company. Zanik then served as a sports agent for basketball clients at ASM Sports (2003–13), assistant general manager of theUtah Jazz (2013–16), assistant general manager of theMilwaukee Bucks (2016–17) under GMJohn Hammond, and assistant general manager (again) for theUtah Jazz (2017–19) which had remained vacant during the span of Zanik's absence.
In his first year back with the Utah Jazz, Zanik worked alongside GMDennis Lindsey and assistant GMDavid Morway to add key players such asRoyce O'Neale andGeorges Niang.
In the summer of 2019, Zanik was involved in the signing ofBojan Bogdanović and trading forMike Conley. Zanik told Bogdanovic, “Your toughness, your ability to space the floor, contribute to the group…all the little things that you did in Indiana last year, especially after being able to carry the team the last three or four months really made an impression on us.”[3]
On May 10, 2019, Justin Zanik was named new GM for theUtah Jazz, taking over the vacancy left byDennis Lindsey who was promoted to EVP of basketball operations.[4] Zanik helps facilitate contract negotiations, manage salary caps and oversee scouting of prospects, as well as other responsibilities.
Zanik brought in chef Anthony Zamora, one of three registered dietitians working for an NBA team, to the Zions Bank Basketball Campus training facility giving personalized meal plans upon request.
Shortly before the Jazz opened their2023–24 training camp, Zanik's wife Gina urged him to schedule a physical, noticing that he felt more tired than usual. He had not had an examination in eight years. He scheduled his physical with the Jazz's team doctor for September 28, and on his 49th birthday on October 1, the doctor told him he was in kidney failure, with only 14% of his normal kidney function remaining. Zanik was diagnosed withpolycystic kidney disease (PKD), a condition that runs in his family; his father received a kidney transplant as a result of the disease in 2003. After a wide search for a living donor, the husband of Gina's childhood best friend proved to be a match, and Zanik received the kidney on April 2, 2024.[5]
He and Gina have three children, Ava, Oskar and Lucy. Gina is the co-founder and executive director of the Rare and Undiagnosed Network, an advocacy group for individuals with rare medical conditions. Gina and all three children suffer fromautonomic neuropathy, stemming from nerve damage that affects automatic body functions. During Zanik's wait for a transplant, all three children were also diagnosed with PKD; each child will likely require a kidney transplant before age 30 (the children were between 12 and 16 at the time of their father's transplant).[5]