The NBA world felt shockwaves when the Jazz sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota in a blockbuster trade for a historic return. When the Jazz got eliminated from the playoffs in April, speculation began on whether the Jazz would break up their All-Star duo and enter a rebuild. In our offseason preview for the Jazz, we concluded that they were in good hands for a rebuild under newly hired Danny Ainge because of his history of extracting optimal value in trades.
The former Boston Celtics executive managed to outdo his previous haul from the 2013 trade with the Brooklyn Nets by not only getting three unprotected first-round picks again (2023, 2025, 2027), but also an additional Top 5 protected first in 2029. If you include this year’s 22nd overall pick, Walker Kessler, the Jazz got five first-round picks for Gobert, all without taking on any long-term money. They also traded Royce O’Neale to the Nets for a first-round pick on the eve of free agency.
Now the big question is, what happens next? And what that really is asking is if the Jazz will also trade Donovan Mitchell now that the roster has taken a major competitive hit in the short term. As hard as it is to move an all-time generational defender, who by all accounts was fully bought-in to the organization and the city of Utah, the return they got was too good to pass.