Utah Jazz Trivia
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60 free Utah Jazz trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Utah Jazz trivia quiz covers the whole franchise story: the New Orleans years with Pistol Pete Maravich and a court so high it needed a safety net, the 1979 move that left the name behind by accident, Frank Layden, the booed drafting of John Stockton, Karl Malone, Mark Eaton's block record, Jerry Sloan's 23 seasons, two Finals against Michael Jordan's Bulls, Deron Williams, the Gobert-Mitchell teams and the Lauri Markkanen rebuild. Expect easy questions on the arena, the mascot and the biggest names, plenty of history for regular fans, and hard ones about the Rony Seikaly non-trade, Rod Hundley and the Minneapolis group that nearly bought the team in 1986. Uniforms, from Mardi Gras purple to the Wasatch mountains and Red Rocks, get their own questions. Every answer was checked against primary and encyclopaedic sources before it went in, so when you miss one you can trust the explanation. Play it solo or run it as a round at your next watch party. For the wider league, our NBA trivia page is the natural next stop.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Lakers used a draft pick surrendered by the Jazz to select which future legend first overall in 1979?
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson became a Laker because the Jazz owed compensation for signing veteran Gail Goodrich in 1976; the pick turned into No. 1 when the Jazz finished last and the Lakers won a coin flip.
Q 02Under which name did the Jazz's arena open in 1991, a name it took back in 2023?
Delta Center
Delta Center lost its name in 2006, when the bankrupt airline declined to renew its sponsorship; Delta bought the naming rights back 17 years later.
Q 03Which star did the cash-strapped Jazz draft third overall in 1982, then trade to Atlanta months later?
Dominique Wilkins
Dominique Wilkins did not want to play in Utah and the Jazz badly needed money, so Atlanta landed a future scoring champion for John Drew, Freeman Williams and $1 million.
Q 04Which LSU legend did the expansion Jazz acquire from Atlanta before playing their first game?
Pete Maravich
Pete Maravich was the crowd-pleaser the new team wanted, but the price was steep: one draft pick sent to Atlanta became the first overall selection of 1975, David Thompson.
Q 05Why did the players' union make the 1974 Jazz net off their home court?
It was raised like a stage
It was raised like a stage at Loyola University's field house, so the union feared a player could tumble off into the stands; the Jazz moved out after a single season.
Q 06Which cavernous venue did the Jazz call home from 1975 to 1979?
Louisiana Superdome
Louisiana Superdome crowds could top 30,000, but conventions and other events took precedence over basketball, sending the Jazz on the road for weeks and helping push the owners to move.
Q 07After moving to Utah in 1979, the Jazz held a contest to choose what?
A new team name
A new team name was the idea, but the owner said nothing that came in seemed to fit, and the Jazz name stayed.
Q 08Which ABA team played in Salt Lake City before the Jazz arrived, winning a title in its first season there?
Utah Stars
Utah Stars owner Bill Daniels went broke after failed business ventures and a run for governor of Colorado, and the league shut the team down 16 games into the 1975–76 season.
Q 09Which high-flying guard, nicknamed Dr. Dunkenstein, won Rookie of the Year with the Jazz in 1981?
Darrell Griffith
Darrell Griffith made his name as a dunker, yet he added a long-range shot and led the NBA in three-point percentage in 1984.
Q 10Which then little-known college produced John Stockton, drafted 16th by the Jazz in 1984?
Gonzaga
Gonzaga was so obscure in 1984 that the Jazz's own draft-day crowd met the pick with stunned silence or boos, depending on the account; Stockton retired as the NBA's career leader in assists and steals.
Q 11Which Jazz centre set an NBA record by blocking 5.6 shots a game in 1984–85?
Mark Eaton
Mark Eaton was working as an auto mechanic when a junior-college coach spotted him at a California tyre shop; he barely got off the bench at UCLA, and the Jazz took him in the fourth round.
Q 12Which auto dealer bought 50 percent of the Jazz for $8 million in 1985 to keep the team in Utah?
Larry H. Miller
Larry H. Miller was offered a quick profit a year later by buyers who would have moved the team out of state; he turned it down and bought the other half himself for $14 million.
Q 13Which two-man play did John Stockton run so often with his power forward that it became the Jazz's trademark?
The pick-and-roll
Q 21The Jazz's 1998 deadline trade for which Orlando big man collapsed within 48 hours?
Rony Seikaly
Rony Seikaly says he was packing for Utah when a scan showed a foot injury and the Jazz backed out; the Jazz say he simply failed to report, and he played only 18 more NBA games.
Q 22The Jazz's 54 points in Game 3 of the 1998 Finals were the NBA's fewest since the arrival of what?
The shot clock
The shot clock arrived in 1954 to end stalling and lift scoring, and no team had scored so little under it; the unwanted record lasted less than a year before another club managed only 49.
Q 23By what nickname was Jazz power forward Karl Malone known throughout his NBA career?
The Mailman
The pick-and-roll was so reliable that the pair's surnames became an NBA catchphrase, and in 18 seasons together they never once missed the playoffs.
Q 14From which college did the Jazz draft Karl Malone in 1985?
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech's low profile may be why twelve teams passed on Malone in the 1985 draft; the man they overlooked retired as the second-highest scorer in NBA history.
Q 15Which star of the Jazz's early Utah years was traded to Detroit in 1986 for Kelly Tripucka?
Adrian Dantley
Adrian Dantley had won two scoring titles in Utah, but his relationship with his coach soured after a contract holdout, and the Jazz handed the team to its two young stars.
Q 16Which coach took over 17 games into the 1988–89 season and stayed until 2011?
Jerry Sloan
Jerry Sloan became the first coach to win 1,000 games with one team, yet in more than two decades in Utah he was never voted Coach of the Year.
Q 17Which Detroit Pistons guard held the NBA record for assists in a season until John Stockton broke it in 1988?
Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas's record fell in Stockton's first season as a full-time starter, after three years as a backup; by 1990 Stockton was averaging 14.5 assists a game, still the best ever as of 2025.
Q 18Which sharpshooting guard did the Jazz acquire from Philadelphia in a February 1994 trade?
Jeff Hornacek
Jeff Hornacek rubbed his cheek before every free throw as a secret wave to his children, who had asked him to say hello to them on television.
Q 19John Stockton's buzzer-beating three sent the 64-win Jazz to their first NBA Finals in 1997 by eliminating which team?
Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley was the defender Stockton shot over at the buzzer of Game 6; the same team had ended Utah's season in both 1994 and 1995.
Q 20Which team beat the Jazz in both the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals?
Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan decided both series: visibly ill, he carried his team to a pivotal Game 5 win in 1997, and in 1998 he made a steal and the title-winning shot with 5.2 seconds left.
The Mailman delivered for 19 seasons without ever winning a title: he lost all three of his Finals, two with Utah and a last one in 2004, the year after he left.
Q 24Which Jazz guard flew in from his daughter's cancer surgery and hit a key overtime three in a 2007 playoff game?
Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher landed in Salt Lake City with the game under way and went in during the third quarter; that summer the Jazz released him from his contract so his daughter could be treated elsewhere.
Q 25Which point guard did the Jazz take with the third overall pick in 2005?
Deron Williams
Deron Williams cost the Jazz three first-round picks in a draft-night trade up from sixth to third; he went one place ahead of Chris Paul, and the two were measured against each other for years.
Q 26Which Jazz player asked to leave in 2007, days after being named EuroBasket MVP, even offering to forfeit his contract?
Andrei Kirilenko
Andrei Kirilenko told a Russian newspaper he would give up the $63 million left on his deal to escape his coach's rigid system; no move came, and he stayed four more seasons.
Q 27Which team eliminated the Jazz in three straight postseasons from 2008 to 2010?
Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers teams reached the Finals in all three of those seasons and won two titles; Utah, which had swept them in the 1998 West finals, was swept in turn in 2010.
Q 28Which 19-year-old forward headlined the package the Jazz got from New Jersey for their All-Star point guard in 2011?
Derrick Favors
Derrick Favors, the third pick of the 2010 draft, arrived with Devin Harris and two first-round picks, one of which became Enes Kanter, and stayed with the Jazz for more than eight years.
Q 29Which award did Rudy Gobert, only the 27th pick of the 2013 draft, win three times with the Jazz?
Defensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2021, Gobert had been picked by another team, which handed his rights to Utah that same night for a second-round pick and cash.
Q 30From which team's staff did the Jazz hire Quin Snyder as head coach in June 2014?
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks assistant for a single season before Utah called, Snyder went back in 2023 as their head coach, less than a year after resigning from the Jazz.