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The Utah Jazz finally decided to move on from their core, trading Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves sent the Jazz two mediocre guards and a bevy of unprotected picks, so the Jazz is in a great position to rebuild. Still, according to reports, the front office will look to build around Donovan Mitchell, rather than go into a full rebuild. That can be a good decision, but most conventional wisdom would say it is not going to work out. In that vein, here are two basic reasons why the Jazz must totally blow it up and trade Donovan Mitchell after trading Rudy Gobert.
Reasons Why Jazz Must Trade Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell is not leading a team to a championship
It might be tough for some Jazz fans to take, but Mitchell is just not the player taking any team to a championship. We have seen, in the last few seasons, what it takes to win an NBA title. From the Warriors dynasty, one that was organically built and, to be honest, had their fair share of luck, all the way to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, where his physical gifts made him unstoppable for opposing defenses. The main issue with Mitchell is not his skillset, per se, as Mitchell is a great player, as proven by his three-time All-Star appearances. However, his skills are very odd and cannot be incorporated into a true, modern NBA offense.
Starting with his offense, Mitchell is primarily a driver of the basketball and a slasher. With credit to him, Mitchell has never given up on his outside shot, but hovering around 36-38% year to year is simply not good enough for a guard. Obviously, as he does average over 25 points per game for the last two seasons, Mitchell has found other ways to score, but that three-point shot is a must-have for any respectable guard in the NBA. Defensively, Mitchell struggles, especially compared to his first few years in the league. His effort levels fell off, partly because Rudy Gobert has made the Jazz defense so good that others could slack off in some regards. His size, at six-foot-one, is not ideal, but it does not excuse his lack of effort on that end of the court.
To sum up, the Jazz have a superstar guard, but one without a consistent three-point shot and one that is not a two-way threat. Unfortunately for Utah, in the modern NBA, that is just not good enough. If we just look at their conference and the teams with championship aspirations, the Mavs have Luka Doncic, the Clippers have Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, the Nuggets have Nikola Jokic, the Grizzlies have Ja Morant, and the Warriors just won a title with Steph Curry. All of these players are inarguably better than Mitchell and unless they have a trade in the works to bring in a bigger star than Mitchell, the Jazz will be stuck in first and second-round finishes with Spida as their main man.
Market For Sellers
In all honesty, it would be tough to say this before we found out about the package of assets sent by Minnesota for Rudy Gobert. The Jazz got three unprotected first-round picks and one that is top-5 protected. With Kevin Durant available for trade, common wisdom would say that the teams would be holding on to their assets and calling the Nets for a possible KD deal. Yet, the Wolves opened the bag in a major way for the French center, thus confirming that we are truly in a seller's market when it comes to trades. Talent is so hard to come by through free agency and everyone has filled up their cap space, so trading for players seems to be the last resort for many teams.
If we take into consideration that, out of the Jazz duo, it was Mitchell that was regarded as better, we can only imagine what kind of collection of assets they could get for him. He is tied to the franchise for at least three more years, with a player option for an additional year, on a contract that is much cheaper than the likes of Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant. Obviously, he does not bring the marketability or the production of an Irving or Durant, but he is a good enough guard to play second fiddle to a superstar.
For teams ready for the next step, Mitchell could be that guy and the Jazz could kickstart their rebuild with a ton of picks, cap space, and the ability to really fight for as many lottery balls as possible, given the fact that the next draft can be described as the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. It really makes all the sense in the world to trade Mitchell now, as trading him, later on, might be done for a significantly lesser coup of assets. The Jazz must look at their roster and finally figure out that Mitchell cannot get them that elusive NBA ring they have been dreaming about in Salt Lake City.
