Jazz sign ex-Danny Ainge Celtics lottery pick

Oct 26, 2022; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge looks on during warms ups before the game against the Houston Rockets at Vivint Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Danny Ainge is trying for a reclamation project with … one of his own draft picks.

Tony Jones of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Utah Jazz are signing guard Romeo Langford to an Exhibit 10 deal (one year for the minimum salary).

Langford, 23, was originally an Ainge draft pick. Ainge selected Langford in the first round (No. 14 overall) during the 2019 NBA Draft. Ainge was the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics at the time but is now an executive for the Jazz.

Expectations should not be too high for the former Indiana University star Langford, who is indeed a minimum-salary guy at best right now. He is a score-first guard who has averaged just 4.6 points per game over four NBA seasons (though Langford is coming off a career-best season in 2022-23 on the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs).

Still, Ainge clearly sees something that he likes in Langford, just as he did in 2019. At least this move for a Celtics alum helps to balance out some of the personnel influence of Jazz minority owner Dwyane Wade.