Utah Jazz
Now, I would not fully say that the Utah Jazz needs to act “fast” since they are coming off a season in which they held the best record in the NBA, but if the Jazz has a similar ending to their season in which they get beaten in the Western Conference Semifinals, Donovan Mitchell could begin to question his future in Utah long-term.
He is under contract through the 2025-26 season, as he signed a five-year, potentially $195M extension with built-in incentives last offseason, but if the Jazz fails to advance far in the postseason this season and then does nothing to improve during the 2022-23 season, then there will be some serious doubts cast in Salt Lake City.
It is not like the situation for the Utah Jazz is very reassuring right now either. Back when the whole COVID-19 pandemic started, Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive for the virus and thus spread the illness to his teammates, specifically Donovan Mitchell who was not happy with the All-Star big man.
The two have since moved on and this does not seem like a major issue anymore, but then there was the saga between Mitchell’s doctors and the Utah Jazz team doctors when the All-Star shooting guard sprained his ankle last season, resulting in the Jazz holding him out for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, a game in which Mitchell was ready to go for and the Jazz ended up losing.
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A bunch of little things piling up on top of each other and then this team potentially not improving at all over the next year or so could ultimately end up swaying Donovan Mitchell’s mind elsewhere to try and compete at the highest level possible, but this is not necessarily something the Jazz need to be focused on right now.
Preparing for the future is important for any franchise, but right now, the Utah Jazz is preparing to once again dominate the league during the 2021-22 season in hopes of making it to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2007.
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The Jazz definitely has a strong-looking team this year, but at some point, this organization could look to sacrifice key talents and possibly a player like Rudy Gobert in order to get Donovan Mitchell another high-level, All-Star talent to compete for a championship.
