Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah assistant coach Sean Sheldon strolled onto the Delta Center court for pregame warmups with an interesting shirt Sunday.
The shirt? A tee with the team's equipment manager, Adam Klauke, smiling face and "GOAT" written underneath it.
Usually, a coach's pregame attire is meaningless. Most of the time coaches wear the official Jazz get-up or another random shirt from the organization. This one, though, felt intentional.
The shirt was a callback to a viral post from the Jazz social team following Utah's win over Milwaukee in early January that featured that same image of Klauke. And a post that was inspired by one strange quote.
In early January, when speaking about his team's struggles, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo said everyone needed to be better — and he meant everybody.
"It starts from the equipment manager — he has to wash our clothes better," Antetokounmpo said.
Antetokounmpo probably didn't mean to throw shade at the equipment manager. He was mostly speaking in generalities but used some very specific examples; the guy who handles all the equipment just so happened to get the random call out.
But it was hard to ignore the ridiculousness of calling out the equipment manager for how a team is playing.
Antetokounmpo's comments came only a few days before the Jazz played the Bucks in Milwaukee. Naturally, as the Jazz social team began thinking of ways to frame a potential win, their own equipment manager was brought to the table.
JAZZ WIN!!! pic.twitter.com/9wd7b0tZa3
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 9, 2024
But when it came to a post featuring Klauke, social media manager Gabby Hundman had one question: "Am I even allowed to?"
The answer, she found, was an overwhelming yes.
Hundman reached out to Klauke to get his permission but, as she admitted, "I think he thought I was kidding. He was like, 'Haha, OK'"
Still, he sent Hundman a selfie of him at the Bucks home arena to use if necessary. That, though, proved to not be needed.
As luck would have it, a couple of games earlier, content producer Hayley Mettenet had grabbed a clip of Klauke on the court following a Jazz win. It may have been accidental, but it was exactly what the team was looking for. Not only was there "Jazz win" sparkling in the arena behind him, but Kluake was holding multiple game balls — yet another callback to another Antetokounmpo incident this season — and wore almost a knowing smile.
The team could have planned a photoshoot with their beloved equipment manager and had a hard time getting that good of a shot.
"Having the game balls in it was just a little too perfect, and Klauke is just precious in that clip," Hundman said. "It was honestly like such a perfect clip."
There was just one worry: Would people get the joke?
"I was a little nervous about people not knowing what it was," Hundman said. "Internally and dedicated Jazz fans know who he is, but our audience has become so international that I was like, are people gonna get this? But it was honestly just aligned with NBA Twitter so perfectly."
Even if people didn't get it right away, it was easily explained. Soon, it was an inside joke that all NBA fans could appreciate — including the Bucks faithful.
"I can't even be mad, posting the equipment manager is hilarious," one Bucks fan tweeted.
Heck, even players thought it was fun. When the Jazz were in New Orleans last month, Klauke was stopped by a suddenly excited Pelicans player.
"You're the guy from the tweet!" the player said.
Klauke quickly texted Hundman, "This is your fault."
To which Hundman replied, "Or I made you a star."
Or as Sheldon's shirt proclaimed, a "GOAT."
