As the NBA playoffs come into focus, few teams in the league have as much riding on the outcome as much as the Utah Jazz. Built around their tandem of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, it seems like they have reached their natural conclusion as a group.
Some fantastic regular seasons, a couple of nice postseason moments, but no real signature run, and certainly no Finals appearances. That sort of thing happens. You only need to look at Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers to see how hard it really is to go all the way and win it all.
Of real concern to Utah Jazz fans, however, are the comments recently made by Donovan Mitchell and the current situation the franchise finds itself in.
After Wednesday’s loss to an LA Clippers squad that welcomed back Paul George, Mitchell had some very worrying quotes to give to reporters. The message was clear. What the Jazz are experiencing after their fifth straight loss is something that they have become painfully familiar with.
They look awfully good in November when no hardware is handed out, but when the games start to matter, too often they have tightened up. The Jazz are still the fifth seed in the West, and a 45-31 record is not to be sniffed at. If anything you could argue they haven’t peaked too soon and raced ahead to the regular-season finish line, as they have in the past.
But you would be foolish to think this is a genuine contender at this moment. This is why, despite Mitchell being under contract through the rest of his prime and until 2026, the Jazz need to begin to prepare for life without their superstar, if they continue on this path. Here are three reasons why he may leave a lot sooner than they’d like.
3 reasons Donovan Mitchell is going to leave the Utah Jazz: 1. Because he can
It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Silly even. But the fact is that these days it doesn’t seem to matter how long a star player’s contract runs until – they will still be able to force a move if necessary. This puts an organization like the Jazz in perhaps the most unenviable position in the entire league.
Do they just continue to play a clearly unhappy player, in the hopes he comes around? That can be so damaging to team chemistry and it makes the long-term hard to plan for. If Mitchell doesn’t want to be there, there is a blueprint created by Ben Simmons that, although expensive to him personally, will eventually see him get his way.
The length of Mitchell’s deal is very appealing to other franchises as well, so getting the most for him while they can if he doesn’t want to be in Utah makes sense. So if he continues to show that he doesn’t want to be there, the team can just move him to whoever gives them the best offer, even if it is a place he likely wouldn’t willingly go to like the San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic.
They don’t need to do right by a player who doesn’t do right by them. But the fact remains that teams like the Jazz who move the best player in a trade rarely come out the better for it. But on the flip side, free agents are rarely willing to go to Utah, so getting what they could for Mitchell while he still has so long on his contract is sure to appeal to them.
If LeBron James signaled the start of the player empowerment era with his move to the Miami Heat, then James Harden perfected it. To go from the Houston Rockets, to the Brooklyn Nets, and now the Philadelphia 76ers, having never won a championship and only getting older in the process, is an outcome we never could have predicted. Harden did that in less than two years and started the process when firmly under contract. Why wouldn’t a fed-up Mitchell?
3 reasons Donovan Mitchell is going to leave the Utah Jazz: 2. Rudy Gobert
It would be really unfair to lay the blame on why Mitchell possibly wants to leave the Jazz on one player. It is an even bigger stretch when you consider center Rudy Gobert is a multiple-time Defensive Player of the Year, and despite the lazy thoughts of many, is actually much more than a big body who clogs up the paint.
But while there is so much to like about Gobert’s game, he has also had some pretty ugly playoff performances. The kind that make a franchise and his co-star wonder if anything can ever significantly change while they are both together in order to go even deeper into the postseason.
The fact Gobert has been played off the floor in multiple playoff series in the past has to be a sticking point at this stage. It is all well and good to dominate during the regular season, but if Mitchell is then expected to do it all alone in a seven-game series against an elite opponent, they are never going to make the Finals.
Mitchell’s comments could mean he already knows this, and after securing a max contract, is now trying to get out of town. Returning to Simmons as a case study again, for the longest time, it was thought that both he and Joel Embiid could not co-exist on the same roster if the 76ers were serious about winning a championship.
Now that Simmons is gone, on the part of the 76ers at least, that looks correct. Say what you want about Harden and his varying degrees of caring each week. but the fit of Embiid and Harden is just better.
Imagine if Mitchell had a more mobile big like Karl-Anthony Towns alongside him, while Gobert had… well Gobert actually has it pretty good. Change is necessary to overcome obstacles that continue to block a path, and splitting up Mitchell and Gobert is the most obvious one.
3 reasons Donovan Mitchell is going to leave the Utah Jazz: 1. Time is up
Mitchell has been to the postseason every year of his career so far. Now in his fifth season, he is a three-time All-Star. But he’s only made it out of the first round twice and has never gone any deeper than that. It might seem a bit early to be looking at pastures new, but the career of a star player can be over so quickly.
Looking around the Western Conference, the Clippers are going to have both George and Kawhi Leonard back soon. The Golden State Warriors restocked their young talent pool. Luka Doncic is coming, and we should all be wary of that. The Phoenix Suns will be the gold standard for a couple of years. We haven’t even mentioned the Los Angeles Lakers.
All of which is to say, perhaps Mitchell has just realized what it takes others far longer to. The time to get out, get to a bigger market, and try to win it all is now. Lillard has remained loyal to the Trail Blazers through it all. Do you think that was the right decision? On the other hand, Anthony Davis got out of his situation with the New Orleans Pelicans as soon as the right chance came up.
He might be constantly injured, but he has a ring to show for it already. He lives in Los Angeles, plays with LeBron James, and is still only 29. Not a bad job if you can get it. Mitchell might look at Lillard and see the future near misses stretching out in front of him.
Make no mistake, the Jazz have done an excellent job building a fringe contender and have a brilliant head coach in Quinn Snyder. It just takes a bit of luck, drafting well beyond the lottery, and a key free agent or two in order to go all of the way.
Even then, if a player like Kevin Durant joins the Warriors, as he did in the past, those plans go out the window. Better to be in control of your own destiny than wait and see what happens around you and react. Donovan Mitchell looks fed up, and he could be the next superstar to up sticks and leave.