In the aftermath of the Rudy Gobert trade, NBA insiders are holding firm in the belief that the Utah Jazz are hanging on to Donovan Mitchell in a quest to re-tool and re-build around the young star.
If you ask Kendrick Perkins, however, it’s only a matter of time before Utah ships Mitchell out of town as well. As he said on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ the Jazz are in a total rebuild mode that will result in all (or most) of their core getting the boot.
“Danny Ainge is a guy who loves to build a team through the draft. He loves draft picks. We know how he finessed the Philadelphia 76ers and got Jayson Tatum and a pick back. We saw him draft Jaylen Brown, we saw him draft Marcus Smart. All those guys came through the draft. I thought this was the last opportunity for the Utah Jazz to prove something not only to him but also to the ownership group. Rudy Gobert is a 3x Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert is a future Hall of Famer and you trade him, one of the franchise centerpieces, he’s about to blow up the whole thing, Donovan Mitchell will be traded at some point in this season.”
.@KendrickPerkins thinks the Jazz are in a full rebuild 👀
"[Danny Ainge] is about to blow up the whole thing, Donovan Mitchell will be traded at some point in this season." pic.twitter.com/2rgukej1pR
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 13, 2022
The Jazz find themselves in a unique situation. Rudy Gobert is gone for a haul of draft picks, and Donovan Mitchell could be next if Utah gets the offer they’re looking for.
If not, they could just sit and wait for things to play out and give Mitchell another chance to prove his worth.
Either way, the Jazz are going to be a different team than the one we’ve been watching for years. No matter what they decide to do with Donovan, the team will not be playing for a championship next season.
It might be better off to just trade Mitchell and wipe the slate clean.
