It’s been a wild ride for the Utah Jazz for a lot of the regular season in the NBA. Despite some success throughout the season and a winning record that saw them qualify directly for the playoffs, rumors of a rift between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have been swirling for almost the entire year.
The latest report from Sean O’Connell that came out suggested that Rudy Gobert is at a point in time where he believes it’s a ‘him or me’ situation between him and Donovan Mitchell. The team and players have quite often denied these rumors this season and Gobert has once again spoken out almost immediately after the rumor came out.
https://twitter.com/rudygobert27/status/1521209834560884736
“Everyday has it’s own ‘rumor’.”
With the Jazz having crashed out of the playoffs, the offseason will likely bring some changes, but how drastic they remain to be seen. There have been reports that Quin Snyder could be on track for the Los Angeles Lakers job, which would mean that the Utah Jazz would lose the coach that has been instrumental in bringing whatever success they had to the team.
Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell are a duo that should work but have failed to make it happen in the playoffs. Mitchell’s defense has been a question mark this season, while Gobert himself has limitations on the offensive end of the floor. While that might not mean that they are ready to move on from playing with one another, there are certainly some concerns that Utah needs to address.
Deciding which one to trade, if they do decide to trade either, will be a decision that impacts Utah’s future significantly in the coming years. While reports have suggested that the franchise would likely go with Donovan Mitchell, as Gobert himself pointed out, rumors are shared regularly and what the team decides will only become apparent with time.
