The Jazz gets five players and four first-round future picks in exchange for the All-NBA Center.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) takes a shot off Memphis Grizzlies forward Garen Jackson Jr. (13) as the Utah Jazz host the Memphis Grizzlies Basketball Club in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
Plot has been gathering throughout Friday that the Utah Jazz had a big move coming, and that league executives were beginning to believe the team might be headed for a rip and rebuild.
When the move finally came it wasn’t just that big. It was seismic.
The Jazz are trading one of their founding pieces, All-NBA center and three-time defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, to the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
In return, Utah will receive two-way winger owner Beasley, defensive-minded guard Patrick Beverly, forwards Jared Vanderbilt na Dilendro Polmaro, rookie Walker Kessler (the 22nd pick in the 2022 NBA Draft), and four in the future first-round picks.
These picks will be Wolves unprotected picks in 2023, 25, and 27, as well as the top five protected picks in 2029. The Jazz could also choose to practice a pick exchange in 2026, if Minnesota finishes with a worse record.
It appears not to be a complete rebuild, though Wojnarowski reported that the team plans to “retool the roster around the All-Star”. [guard] Donovan Mitchell”.
Joubert and Mitchell have been cutting center Utah for the past half decade. However, although the Jazz have qualified for the NBA playoffs in the past six seasons, the team never made it past the second round.
The team won 2-0 in the 2021 Western Conference semifinals against the Clippers who played without injured superstar Kowhi Leonard, then this year’s Dallas Mavericks were ejected without NBA guard Luka Doncic for three times. The games have had the effect of making Utah’s future uncertain.
Will the team try to swap pieces around Joubert and Mitchell? Or choose a more drastic change?
The movements of the last month now illustrate the last option.
At the beginning of June, chief Coach Quinn Snyder chose to resign after eight years at the helm, saying he felt it was time for the team to have a new voice.
Earlier this week, the Jazz agreed to a five-year contract with Celtics assistant Will Hardy – a deal considered extraordinarily long for a first-time head coach, and the effect of generating speculation that the team was showing a huge commitment to him. Change is about to arrive.
On Thursday, with the opening of the free agency, the Utah front office Send Key Striker Royce O’Neill – the powerful 3-point shooter and the team’s best defender – to the Brooklyn Nets For the 2023 first round selection. CEO Danny Aing and General Manager Justin Zanick are also He chose not to keep Juancho Hernángómezand declined to do so Eligible Shows for Eric Paschall and Trent Forest.
On Friday morning, ESPN personality and NBA director Brian Windhurst made a long, mysterious televised walk to suggest that League executives were wondering, “Why would the jazz do that?”
Hours later, the answer came.
Gobert, a three-time All-Star, three-time DPOY, one-time All-NBA Second Team, and three-time All-NBA Third Team, has been with the Jazz since 2013.
He was selected with the 27th pick in that year’s draft by the Denver Nuggets, who sold his draft rights to Utah. The Nuggets’ general manager that year was Tim Connelly – the man who had just taken on a new position as head of basketball operations for the Timberwolves.
For his career, Joubert has averaged 12.4 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.1 pieces per game, on 65.3% of field goals. However, he has grown into one of the league’s top players in recent years. In the 2021-22 season, he led the NBA in rebounds (14.7) and FG% (71.3%) while also averaging 15.6 points and 2.1 blocks.
While he became beloved among the team’s fans for having almost single-handedly supported an ocean stopper-free defense, for his year-round development and improvement, and for his pugnacious, underdog stance, his time at Utah State wasn’t without controversies. .
He and Mitchell became famous in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The NBA entered a months-long hiatus after Goubert became the so-called “Patient Zero” – the first player to be tested positive for COVID-19. Mitchell became furious when he got his second positive test the next day, accusing his colleague of being fickle and careless.
Although the two mended what the infamous Athletic called an “unsalvageable” relationship, the premise of the tension between them didn’t quite go away.
Indeed, in the past season, as the Jazz struggled with injuries, the COVID outbreak that made much of January a losing cause, and a string of double-digit strings that all came together to hang around the team like a black cloud, there were additional signs of stress.
Joubert also returned from his absence related to the Corona virus, Criticize the team’s defense without him, taking a covert shot at Mitchell by noting that Phoenix Suns counterpart Devin Booker was “playing his ass” defensively. Less than two months later, Mitchell returned the favor after a loss in Dallas. With Joubert missing the match with a leg injury, the goalkeeper is clearly gone Praise the “right men.”
So where does jazz go from here?
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