Utah Jazz Mailbag: Should Team Have Kept Mitchell Or Gobert?

SALT LAKE CITY – Welcome to the Utah Jazz mailbag where this week we ask whether the team would have been better off keeping Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell.

Each week we will send out a prompt on X and BlueSky asking for the questions you have about the Jazz.

Then, we’ll respond to as many as we can in that week’s Jazz mailbag.

Jazz Mailbag: Should Team Have Kept One Of Gobert Or Mitchell?

Thought experiment… Hypothetically If we only traded 1 of Don/Rudy in 2022…. Which team would have been better …Don+conley+bogey+the “Rudy package” from MIN? Or Rudy+conley+bogey+the “Don package” from CLE

— c. young (@camyoung512) February 18, 2025

Question: Would the Jazz have been better if they only traded one of Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell, and if so, which is the better team?

Answer: This is an important what-if in recent Jazz history, and now nearly three years removed from the deals, we’ve got more data points to give the trades more accurate grades.

First, let’s go back and reconstruct these rosters based on how they’d look if they made one trade, but not the other.

(It’s important to note that both Joe Ingles and Royce O’Neale were dealt prior to either trade and won’t be represented on these rosters. Conversely, Bojan Bogdanovic was traded after Gobert and Mitchell, but that won’t be represented assuming the Jazz wanted to keep the core together to continue to compete.)

Kept Gobert, Traded Mitchell

PG: Mike Conley/Nickeil Alexander-Walker
SG: Collin Sexton/Jordan Clarkson
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic/Simone Fontecchio/Ochai Agbaji
PF: Lauri Markkanen/Rudy Gay
C: Rudy Gobert/Udoka Azubuike

At first glance, this is a very potent starting five in 2022, as Rudy Gobert was still in his Defensive Player of the Year prime, Lauri Markkanen was on the verge of his first All-Star appearance, and Bojan Bogdanovic, Collin Sexton, and Mike Conley were all above average role players.

Jordan Clarkson had arguably the best year of his career in the 2022-23 season, though he wouldn’t have been a full-time starter in this scenario, and while Nickeil Alexander-Walker has since developed into a strong supporting player, he was still a relatively unknown entering this season.

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This team would have significant warts on defense with Conley, Bogdanovic, and Markkanen starting, though Gobert would have helped alleviate some of those issues.

Offensively, the team would have surrounded Gobert with four very dangerous shooters, and a combination of size and shot creation the team lacked in previous years.

Ultimately, this wouldn’t have been a roster contending for a championship,  but they would have likely made the playoffs, and had three future first-round picks from the Mitchell trade to continue to fill out the roster.

Kept Mitchell, Traded Gobert

PG: Mike Conley/Patrick Beverley/Nickeil Alexander-Walker
SG: Donovan Mitchell/Jordan Clarkson/Malik Beasley
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic/Simone Fontecchio
PF: Jarred Vanderbilt/Rudy Gay
C: Walker Kessler/Udoka Azubuike

This team would have had impressive depth in the backcourt, and with Kessler’s surprising rookie season, he likely would have won the starting center job during training camp.

Offensively, Conley, Mitchell, and Bogdanovic had already proven to be a potent trio but were one of the worst defensive units in the NBA. Though Vanderbilt and Kessler were a fun pairing defensively, they couldn’t have made up for the team’s matador backcourt.

This is exactly what Cavs practices look like.@spidadmitchell & @evanmobley | #BestToTheBay pic.twitter.com/RXNbrJXzc5

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 17, 2025

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This roster likely would have competed for a play-in tournament spot, but wouldn’t have won a playoff series.

However, with Kessler in tow, a less toxic locker room, and four first-round picks from the Gobert trade at their disposal, could the Jazz have built a more formidable roster around Mitchell who has since placed himself in the conversation as one of the ten best players in the NBA?

Which Situation Was Better?

Walking through this exercise, it’s easy to surmise that a Gobert-led team without Mitchell would have had a better chance of staying relevant in the West in the first and second years after the deal.

However, Gobert has seen a decline in performance this season, and his near-max contract would have been an albatross on a roster looking to stay competitive in a crowded Western Conference.

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On the flip side, the Mitchell-led Jazz would have taken a step back in 2022-23, and that alone would have forced the team to trade the All-Star guard who was already unlikely to sign a long-term extension in Utah.

Keyonte on All-Star Sunday. We could get used to this. 😏https://t.co/dX9HNGupmx

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 17, 2025

In this hypothetical, the evidence leads me to believe that if the team had to make one move but not the other, they would have benefited more from the short-term gain of keeping Gobert and trading Mitchell.

But, with Gobert’s contract already beginning to overshadow his production and the high probability the Jazz would have had to trade Mitchell anyway, making both moves in the summer of 2022 was probably the right decision, even if they have yet to find the next young face of the franchise.

Want to ask questions in next week’s Jazz mailbag? Give us a follow at @kslsports.

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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky. 

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