Ian Begley, SNY.tv | Twitter |
It doesn't sound like the Utah Jazz will be listening to trade offers for Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert anytime soon.
There was media speculation about the possibility of the Jazz trading either Mitchell or Gobert after a rift developed between the two All-Stars. After Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, Mitchell, who tested positive for the virus the day after Gobert, acknowledged publicly that he was unhappy with Gobert.
The Athletic reported recently that the relationship between Mitchell and Gobert "doesn't appear salvageable."
But Jazz executive VP Dennis Lindsey intimated on Tuesday that Mitchell and Gobert will move past the incident.
"They're ready to put this behind them, move forward, act professionally," Lindsey said on a Zoom call Tuesday with media, per ESPN. "Look, the COVID-19 night of March [11] was really unprecedented. It brought a microscope to our team, and we get it. With that said, we're very pleased with the collective makeup of our group, Donovan and Rudy in particular.
"We look forward to moving forward. They've said their piece to each other. They've both visited at the ownership level, at management level, at the coaches level, at the players level with each other."
The Knicks, you'd assume, would have jumped at the chance of landing Mitchell in a trade. Some with the club feel that they are well positioned to trade for a young star looking for a change in scenery.
Based on what Lindsey told reporters on Tuesday, it seems like you can take Mitchell off of any hypothetical list of trade targets for New York.
"At the most basic level, they know that they need each other to accomplish the goals we want to accomplish as being the last team left standing in the NBA," Lindsey told reporters.
It was always a bit premature to think that Utah would want to break up their All-Star duo to begin with, and probably even more unlikely that they would trade Mitchell over Gobert (unless Mitchell requested a trade).
Also, the price tag for a Mitchell probably would have been astronomical.
One opposing exec speculated that any package that didn't involve Mitchell Robinson or RJ Barrett and two future first-round picks would've probably been a non-starter for Utah in any Mitchell deal.