In a magical season in which the Utah Jazz went 52-20 during the regular season, the best record in the NBA and their best record since they went 53-29 during the 2009-10 season, it seemed like this franchise may finally have a chance to contend for another title, but they fell short of their goals after losing in the Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Clippers.
While the Jazz were without Mike Conley for a vast majority of this series and while Donovan Mitchell was dealing with ongoing ankle issues, this team still got outplayed by the Clippers after leading the series 2-0.
Now, the Jazz enter the offseason not only with questions to answer about Mike Conley and his future with Utah since he is a free agent, but they have questions to answer about the long-term future of their star player Donovan Mitchell. Ever since trading for him on draft night in 2017, Mitchell has gotten better and better, only to become one of the young stars of the league.
He is not seriously thinking about moving on from the Utah Jazz right? Mitchell signed a five-year, $163M contract extension last summer, so he is not going anywhere anytime soon in terms of being a free agent, but there is some concern within the Jazz organization that he may request a trade in the near future if they cannot prove that this franchise can contend for a championship.
On “The Hoop Collective” podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst talked about Dwyane Wade being worried about Mitchell’s desire to remain in Utah long-term.
“I do think that Dwyane Wade, who [governor Ryan Smith] brought in to be a co-owner but also be an advisor, is seriously concerned about Donovan Mitchell’s desire to stay there long-term.”
This is not necessarily entirely breaking news either as we have seen Mitchell’s frustrations mount over the last year or so. First, there was a reportedly feud with Rudy Gobert when the whole pandemic started, with Gobert testing positive and then spreading the virus to Mitchell.
Then this year, there were more talks of frustration between Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz pertaining to his ankle injury that kept him out for the final month of the regular season and into Game 1 of Utah’s first-round series against the Grizzlies.
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Donovan Mitchell has said over and over again that he loves Salt Lake City and the Utah Jazz franchise, but at some point, you have to imagine that the thought of playing somewhere else has crossed the young guard’s mind. He is going to be on the Utah Jazz to begin the 2021-22 season and will continue to build himself into one of the best players in the league, but sooner or later, talks of Mitchell playing somewhere else are going to gain traction.
Little things could begin to stockpile on top of each other over the next few years and if the Jazz continue to struggle in the postseason, then Donovan Mitchell could request out of Utah. If this happens, here are four logical landing spots for Mitchell to consider if he leaves the Jazz in the future.
