The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference, Northwest Division. Since 1991, the team has played its home games at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The franchise began play as an expansion team in 1974 as the New Orleans Jazz (as a tribute to the history of New Orleans jazz music). The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City in 1979.

The Jazz were one of the league's most successful teams in their early years. Although it took 10 seasons before the Jazz qualified for their first playoff appearance in 1984, they did not miss the playoffs again until 2004. In the late 1980s, John Stockton and Karl Malone emerged as franchise players for the team, forming one of the most famous and powerful point guard duos in NBA history. Led by coach Jerry Sloan, who took over for Frank Layden in 1988, they became one of the most powerful teams of the 1990s, culminating in two NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998, where they lost both times to the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan.

Both Stockton and Malone moved on in 2003. After missing the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, the Jazz returned to prominence under the frontcourt leadership of point guard Deron Williams. However, midway through the 2010-11 season, the Jazz began to restructure after Sloan's retirement and the trade of Williams to the New Jersey Nets. Quin Snyder was hired as head coach in June 2014. With the development of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert into All-Stars, they launched the team back into title contention.

The 2018-19 season started with promise for the Jazz after a surprisingly successful 2017-18 season. However, by the end of November they were 11-12 and in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. This continued into December as Mitchell struggled with his shooting, and the Jazz record remained near the break-even point.

On December 24, 2019, the Jazz announced that they waived forward Jeff Green, signed G-League free agent Rayjon Tucker, and traded Dante Exum to the Cleveland Cavaliers for shooting guard Jordan Clarkson, which trade in particular was viewed as overwhelmingly positive by the media, though it also left a sour taste for Jazz fans who hoped Exum would eventually mature into the cornerstone of the franchise for which he was drafted.

On January 30, 2020, Gobert and Mitchell were named NBA All-Star Game reserves. This marked the first time since 2007 that multiple Utah Jazz players had been selected for the All-Star game. In March 2020, Jazz players Gobert and Mitchell were diagnosed with COVID-19, making the Jazz the first major sports franchise in North America to be directly affected by the disease, and resulting in the suspension of all remaining games of the NBA season.