NBA Utah Jazz has recently announced they will be extending for another year Jerry Sloan’s contract. Sloan is currently ranked fourth in career NBA coaching wins with a total of 1,048. At age 65; Sloan was about to end his second year contract with the team which was reported to be worth $5.5 million per year. This new extension takes him to the end of 2008/2009 season.



"We're interested in having him be here, of course, as long as he wants to be," Jazz owner Larry H. Miller was quoted as saying by the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday.

The announcement did not come as a surprise as it was made on Monday before the game and the two sides had agreed to the basics of the deal as far back as training camp. But it was a surprise the extension added only one year to Sloan's contract situation that arose questions about whether Sloan's 21st season in Utah could be his last.

Sloan took over the Jazz as Head Coach in December 1988 and to the latest news he replied "I just take it a year at a time, a day at a time and that's all I've ever done, the rest of it really isn't a big deal."

Sloan has been so far the only coach a generation of Utah fans have known and his work has been very well done as we have seen the Jazz recover from a 26-56 season in 2004-05 to reach the Western Conference finals last season.

Basically, the deal was negotiated for a period of two months while reviewing the details of the contract.

The Jazz team will be renegotiating with Sloan after the 2008-09; Sloan is one of the five highest-paid coaches in the NBA.

On the other hand, the tensions between Coach Sloan and player Kirilenko have notably improved; as it seems both have come to better terms and now Kirilenko is facing a new panorama of playing for at least two more years for Sloan once again. And this is what he had to say about it "It's always great for the franchise to keep such a legendary coach."