Following a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round, the Utah Jazz plan to do more than simply bring back Donovan Mitchell with a max extension of his rookie contract. According to The Athletic, the front office will likely bring the entirety of the core back for a second run next season.
Players like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles, and Royce O’Neale have already been signed to long-term deals. Mike Conley, who once was the highest-paid player in the league in 2016, is highly likely to opt into the final season of his contract, which would pay him a beefy $34.5 million.
Rudy Gobert is under contract for the 2020-21 season, slated to make $25.8 million in the last year of a four-year, $102 million deal.
Despite rumors of some tension with Mitchell amid the coronavirus crisis, the two actually seemed to get along well during the restart, throwing sand in the fire surrounding them at first.
Upon their first-round exit, the Frenchman expressed desire to continue with this core, including Mitchell:
“We want more,” Gobert said. “The goal wasn’t to lose in the first round, obviously, but I’m proud of the way we handled everything that happened within our team. I don’t think a lot of teams would be able to go through that, I’m talking about especially Donovan (Mitchell) and myself, being able to come back and play the way we played even though we came up short.
“I think it’s very encouraging for the future and obviously it’s painful because you want to win and we will. I have no doubt that we will, but I think we started something and now we’re just going to have to finish it.”
It won't be long before the Jazz start thinking about how to bring Gobert back, but they have made it abundantly clear that no major changes will be needed besides securing Mitchell as their franchise player.
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