RYAN SMITH AND Dwyane Wade, the tech billionaire and recently retired NBA legend who are the faces of the Utah Jazz's new ownership group, boarded a private jet and flew across the country for an important meeting.
Their destination was Greenwich, Connecticut, an affluent suburb of New York City where Jazz star Donovan Mitchell had spent much of his childhood and makes his offseason home.
This was a few weeks after the Jazz were eliminated in the second round of last season's playoffs, losing four straight games to the LA Clippers after building a 2-0 lead, a major disappointment after Utah had rolled to the league's best regular-season record (52-20).