The Utah Jazz did more than what most expected of them this season. After losing star Gordon Hayward last summer, trading for Ricky Rubio, and drafting Donovan Mitchell, many expected this past year to be a building season for Utah as they worked to develop players in hopes of making the playoffs in the future. Fortunately for them, it was a quick development.
The Jazz not only made the playoffs despite losing big man Rudy Gobert for a chunk of the season, they also earned the fifth seed and took down the fourth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs in six games. While they advanced to the second round to take on the Houston Rockets, they also ignited the Paul George free agency discussion early.
George has been rumored to want to come home to Los Angeles, while others have said he wants to try and make another run at it with Russell Westbrook, a guy he's developed good chemistry with this past year. Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, however, says that George should consider the Utah Jazz in free agency.
Mitchell joined ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowksi on ‘The Woj Pod' and he discussed a number of topics, including his plans of recruiting the Thunder forward George to Salt Lake City. Via The Salt Lake Tribune:
“He’s due. I think it’s July 1,” Mitchell said. “I’m definitely going to have that conversation. Why not play with us? You look at how we move the ball. We play with guys who don’t care who scores the most, who rebounds the most. … We play with guys who genuinely want to win.”
George could choose any number of destinations this summer, as any team he says he wants to play for will likely create the necessary roster and cap space for the five-time All-Star and thee-time All-Defensive team member. Mitchell has made it clear that while the Jazz could develop and win without him, adding an immediate difference-maker like George to their ball-club would make them contenders overnight.
“The first 10 games of the season and the last 10 games, I don’t even recognize myself.” Mitchell added. “You can only imagine what we’d be able to do if we had that one big piece. It would be great. If not, like I said, we trust our abilities to do well. But it would be great to have that one piece like you’re talking about.”
George averaged 21.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, a career-high 2.0 steals, and a career-high 3.1 made three-pointers per game on 43 percent shooting form the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
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