SALT LAKE CITY, April 1, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Jazz general manager Justin Zanik announced he’s been experiencing kidney failure and is scheduled to undergo a transplant from a living donor Tuesday.
Zanik, 50, the Jazz’s general manager since 2017, said he got the diagnosis about three weeks ago following repeated urging from his wife, Gina, to see a doctor.
“My wife had been telling me over the past summer that she thought I was more tired,” he said. “I said, ‘Of course I’m tired.’ I had just gotten back from the [FIBA] World Cup, spent 10 days in Japan and the Philippines, came home for two weeks, and went back out to Australia for the NBL Blitz for eight days. I had promised her I would get a physical as soon as I got back from Australia.”
Fortunately, he kept that promise. That visit to the doctor alerted Zanik that his kidney function was at 14%.
“That is not good,” he said. “That is technically kidney failure.”
It didn’t come as a complete surprise to Zanik, as his father underwent a kidney transplant nearly 21 years ago and since has been in good health.
“He has a genetic disease called PKD, which stands for polycystic kidney disease. And I kind of always knew that I’d have to deal with it. I never knew that I actually had it but knew that that could be a possibility,” he said.
The diagnosis prompted Zanik to focus the attention he typically spends on evaluating talent and improving the Jazz’s on-court performance on researching his ailment.
“Your first thoughts are like, ‘What’s going to happen to me? You know, what’s dialysis? Like, when’s that gonna happen?'” he said.
The goal, he said, was a kidney transplant.
“I think a lot of people just assume … organ donation is the box you check on your driver’s license,” Zanik said. “But what’s really cool about medical technology now … is a living donor transplant. The system has allowed people access to better outcomes from organ transplant [than] 20 years ago [or] 30 years ago.”
Instead of having to rely on a family member to step up and donate a kidney to help save a life, potential donors from throughout the world now are available, he said.
“In my job and in my career, I’ve always been a fixer. I’ve always been the one that helps fix everything else,” Zanik said. “So it was hard for me at the beginning to talk about me needing to be fixed and needing help. But once I got over that, I started talking about it internally with our Jazz family and my family and friends.
“And the support and response was just humbling. I had a lot of people, people that you don’t ever expect to say, ‘Hey, I’ll go get tested for you.’ Kidney transplants are one of those gifts that you can give to people to prolong their lives while you’re still alive. And it was really interesting just learning about the process and how streamlined it is, and how it’s been able to optimize outcomes for patients to extend their lives.”
Zanink said the timing of his transplant allows him to continue to meet the demands of an NBA general manager. He expects to be back to work in about three weeks, which allows him to resume his offseason duties with the Jazz (29-46), who will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
“The scheduling of it really makes a lot of sense,” he said. “We’re about to finish the season. We’ll have exit interviews and other things that I’ve basically been doing a little bit earlier this year. And then I’ll be back before the [NBA] combine and all of our pre-draft stuff. So this … month between the end of the season and when we start our pre-draft process is a perfect time for me to be to recover and come back and start watching workouts and be a part of the group.”
His experience with kidney failure has inspired Zanik to share his story with the public in hopes of inspiring others to check in on their health.
“The lesson that I’ve learned — especially as you get older in your 30s and your 40s and your 50s — is that it’s really really important to get a physical every year,” Zanik said.
“Go see your doctor. Go see him once a year. … It’s a pain sometimes; we’re all busy. We have family and we have kids and we have our careers, and sometimes it’s easy to just put [health needs] to the side,” he said. “The best thing you can do to take care of yourself is to go have someone take a look. Do it once a year.”
The Jazz issued a statement Monday sending “love and support” to the Zanik family.
“JZ is an instrumental part of our organization, and we look forward to his return in the coming weeks,” the statement reads.
The Zanik family also issued a statement thanking University of Utah Health and its “incredible medical staff” prior to the GM’s kidney transplant.
“The care, expertise and guidance they have provided our family and many others has been invaluable. We also want to recognize and thank the Living Donor Program for the extraordinary life-saving work that they do. We are immensely thankful to [Jazz owners] Ryan and Ashley Smith and our entire Utah Jazz family.
“The love we have felt and continue to feel is immeasurable. We are humbled and grateful to all of the donors that signed up to donate on Justin’s behalf. Justin looks forward to getting back to work in the coming weeks, and greatly appreciates the organization’s continued support during this process. To our families and our friends, thank you for your continued love, support and prayers.”
