During the late 1980s, John Stockton and Karl Malone arose as the franchise players for the team and formed one of the most famed pick and roll duos in NBA history.

Led by coach Jerry Sloan, who took over from Frank Layden in 1988, they became one of the powerhouse teams of the 1990s, culminating in two NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998, where they lost both times to the Chicago Bulls.

[15] Later, the Jazz played games in the cavernous Louisiana Superdome, but things were no better, because of high demand for the stadium, onerous lease terms, New Orleans' 11 percent amusement tax (highest in the nation), and Maravich's constant knee problems.

However, fortunes on the court improved, with a healthy Dantley, Jeff Wilkins, and rookie Bailey at the forward positions, Eaton and Rich Kelley jointly manning the post, Green and Griffith at the guards, and Drew adding 17 points per game off the bench.

[23] In the 1985 NBA draft, the team added Louisiana Tech forward Karl Malone, who made an immediate impact in the 1985–86 season, averaging 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

In 1986, Adrian Dantley, the team's star player who had carried them through the early years in Utah, was traded to Detroit for Kelly Tripucka, who ended up splitting time with Thurl Bailey.

Eaton won Defensive Player of the Year for the second time, and it appeared the Jazz were ready to take the next step toward contending for an NBA title, after having pushed the Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals the previous season.

Utah, with a veteran roster of Stockton, Malone and Hornacek, faced a Los Angeles Lakers team led by superstar Shaquille O'Neal, guards Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and a young Kobe Bryant.

In 2005 the Utah Jazz acquired Deron Williams with the third overall draft pick but faced challenges as injuries plagued key players like Carlos Boozer, Gordan Giricek, and Andrei Kirilenko.

Despite internal tension with Kirilenko,[42] the Jazz advanced to the Western Conference Finals but were overpowered by the San Antonio Spurs, who later won the NBA championship.

Controversy arose after Kirilenko led his Russian national team to a win in EuroBasket 2007 (the European championship), a tournament in which he was named MVP.

To counter roster losses, Utah acquired Al Jefferson from Minnesota using the Boozer trade exception and signed Raja Bell to a three-year, $10 million contract.

[49] Restricted free-agent Kyrylo Fesenko accepted a $1 million qualifying offer,[50] while Francisco Elson and Earl Watson joined for the 2010–11 season.

The Jazz ended the 2015–16 season with a win–loss record of 40–42, good for ninth place in the Western Conference; however, the team failed to qualify to play in the NBA Playoffs by one game.

Hayward left the Jazz to sign with the Boston Celtics as a free agent on July 4, 2017, announcing his decision in a letter published by The Players' Tribune.

[70] During the 2019 off-season, the Jazz added several players by trade and free agency, including Jeff Green, Mike Conley Jr., Ed Davis, Bojan Bogdanović, and Emmanuel Mudiay, while Derrick Favors, Kyle Korver, Jae Crowder, Raul Neto, and Ricky Rubio left the team.

[73][74] On December 24, 2019, the Jazz announced that they had waived forward Jeff Green, signed G-League free agent Rayjon Tucker, and traded Dante Exum to the Cleveland Cavaliers for shooting guard Jordan Clarkson, whose trade in particular was seen as overwhelmingly positive by the media, if also bittersweet for Jazz fans who hoped that Exum would eventually mature into the franchise cornerstone he was drafted to be.

In March 2020, Gobert and Mitchell were diagnosed with COVID-19, making the Jazz the first major sporting franchise in North America to be directly affected by the disease, and resulting in the suspension of all remaining NBA games of the season.

[80] In game 1, Donovan Mitchell achieved the third-highest single-game scoring total in playoff history (behind only Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor) with 57 points,[81] but the Jazz lost to the Nuggets in overtime.

[84] During the 2020 off-season, the Jazz traded away backup centers Tony Bradley and Ed Davis, re-signed Jordan Clarkson to a four-year, $51.52 million contract, and re-acquired Derrick Favors from the Pelicans to serve as a more reliable post presence off the bench.

Smith agreed at the time of the sale to honor the terms of the legacy trust into which the Millers had placed the Jazz organization, including the provision requiring the team to be kept in Utah.

[87] The Jazz began their 2020–21 season with an NBA-best and franchise-record 23–5 start, with Donovan Mitchell leading the team in scoring and Jordan Clarkson emerging as the frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year.

On February 24, 2021, former Jazz forward Elijah Millsap alleged via Twitter that Dennis Lindsey (then the team's general manager) had made a racist remark to him during an interview in 2015.

For the 1996–97 season, the Jazz drastically updated their logos and uniforms, with a new color scheme of purple (slightly lighter from the previous shade), copper and turquoise.

The new uniforms were a combination of both the old and new styles, with navy blue retained from the most recent color scheme, but the now-famous 'J-note' logo and gold and green were revived.

[125] The "City" uniform was inspired from the red rock formations found in Southern Utah, and it featured a gradient of gold, orange, burgundy and black.

[129][130] The new black, white, and yellow "remix" uniforms and color scheme was largely received poorly by Jazz fans and media members alike.

Then in the 2009–10 season, the Jazz wore the 1979–1984 green uniforms (albeit with white trim and letters) to pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of the aforementioned move to Utah.

[146] KJZZ continued to carry the team's games until 2009, when the Jazz signed a new exclusive 12-year agreement with then FSN Utah, (now part of AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain) on October 20, 2009.

[152] The Jazz also announced a streaming service in partnership with Kiswe, Jazz+, which offers options for annual and monthly subscriptions, as well as passes for individual games.