When the Utah Jazz brought on Danny Ainge as their CEO in December 2021, you knew some big changes might be coming, especially if the Jazz had yet another postseason flameout and they sure did. They were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round by a Mavericks outfit that was without Luka Doncic for the first couple of games and that was it for Ainge.
He decided that a full-blown rebuild was needed as the Jazz shipped out their two biggest stars, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. Gobert was the first to go as Ainge managed to get a massive draft haul for the 3-time Defensive Player of the Year from the Timberwolves and just under 2 months later, Mitchell was traded to the Cavaliers.
Donovan Mitchell Reveals He And Rudy Gobert Told Danny Ainge They Wanted To Run It Back
It was the right decision, as that team had run its course. The best shot the Jazz had at making a deep playoff run was in 2021 when they lost to the Clippers, even with Kawhi missing Games 5 and 6. It was time to blow it up, but Mitchell revealed on “The Old Man and The Three” podcast that he and Gobert wanted to stay.
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“We told Danny and them like, ‘Look, let’s not make this big blow-up trade,’ Everybody assumes I asked to trade Rudy. I said let’s run it back. Say what you want, we have our differences for sure, but both of us understand the value we have playing together as a group and what we could have possibly have done together at that time.”
It shouldn’t be too surprising that they felt they could achieve more and wanted to run it back, but it was clear to anyone on the outside that it was over for this group. The way the roster was constructed wasn’t going to ever lead to success in the postseason and a rebuild was very much in order.
During this episode, Mitchell also revealed that he felt he would end up on the Miami Heat as he was training with Bam Adebayo in the offseason. He is happy to be in Cleveland though, but they got off to a losing start as the Raptors beat them 108-105. Gobert, meanwhile, won his opener but shockingly lost to the Jazz tonight and in what seems like a mini-miracle, the team that everyone felt was in full-blown tank mode, finds themselves at 2-0.
