Jusuf Nurkić will return to Jazz on new 2-year deal

Veteran center Jusuf Nurkić is set to sign a two-year, $22 million deal to return to the Utah Jazz, league sources confirmed to Deseret News on Monday.

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ESPN was first to report the deal.

The Jazz don’t have a very long offseason to-do list. But, as president of basketball operations Austin Ainge mentioned on Saturday at rookie Darryn Peterson’s introductory press conference, there is one glaring gap on the roster as the team looks ahead to the 2026-27 season.

“Obviously, we don’t have any centers under contract right now,” Ainge said. “So that will be one area, for sure, we’ll work on.”

Walker Kessler, who is a restricted free agent, has yet to agree to terms on a new deal with the Jazz, and Nurkić was set to hit free agency along with Kevin Love, who will be 38 in September.

With Kessler sidelined after season-ending shoulder surgery, Nurkić stepped into the starting spot and was an important locker room voice as well as a mentor for the young Jazz team.

Throughout last season, Nurkić, who previously had tumultuous relationships with coaches and often felt undervalued, said that with the Jazz he felt renewed, valued and had more fun playing than he had in years.

“It would be so easy to come back, and I want to come back,” he said at the end of the season. “I love everything about the state and the team. It was one of those things that you didn’t have expectations and it ended up like a beautiful thing. It’s almost like after the rain, you see the sun. That’s as close as I can explain. But also, free agency it’s a tricky thing.”

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Indeed, free agency can be tricky and there were many that believed Nurkić’s performance with the Jazz would garner him offers in free agency that the Jazz probably wouldn’t be able to justify for a backup center (assuming that Kessler is in the starting role).

But Nurkic had such a positive experience playing for Will Hardy, being in Utah and felt so valued that there was also belief that Nurkić’s happiness with being on the Jazz might trump a larger offer from another team.

Technically, NBA teams are not allowed to begin negotiations with free agents until Tuesday at 4 p.m. MST, and then players can officially sign new deals on July 6 at 10:01 a.m. MST. But Nurkić clearly wasn’t tempted by the prospect of testing the market.

Nurkić was traded to the Jazz last summer in the deal that sent Collin Sexton to the Charlotte Hornets. During the 2025-26 season, he averaged 10.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game for the Jazz and became the first player in franchise history to record three triple-doubles in a row.

Last season Nurkić was in the final year of a four-year, $70 million deal. He set a career-high in assists per game with the Jazz and his points average was the most since his final year with the Portland Trail Blazers (2022-23). He will be 32 in August.

When asked at the end of the season about the contributions to the team from veterans like Nurkić and Love, Hardy didn’t hold back in his praise.

“Decisions aren’t just as simple as like, ‘we love Kevin and we love Nurk.’ If it was that simple, man, it would be a lot easier to deal with the ebbs and flows of roster movement in this league, especially as a coach,” Hardy said. “You get attached to these guys…I‘m a big fan of those two guys. I think what they did for our group this year, it can’t be measured. But if you’ve been around our team, you definitely feel it.”

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