Report: Jazz's Offseason Plans for Mitchell & Gobert to be Impacted by 2022 All-Star Game
The NBA All-Star Game will be hosted in Salt Lake City by the Utah Jazz next year. The event will bring Utah high scrutiny and it wouldn't look very good if the Jazz didn't have much representation at the player level in the actual All-Star game.
This, according to one league insider, could very well factor into how the Jazz maneuver this offseason relative to the future of All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Despite the rumors of an imminent split, perhaps Jazz fans should pump the brakes on saying goodbye to one of these stars.
Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer threw a wet blanket on the conflagration that has become the Mitchell/Gobert rumor mill.
The 2023 NBA All-Star Game will be in Salt Lake City, a detail that multiple league sources connected to the Jazz have painted as a critical element of the franchise's future plans. It's of great importance to Jazz governor Ryan Smith that Utah has multiple players in that midseason classic, sources said, similar to how the Cavaliers were represented by both Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen during the 2022 affair in Cleveland. It's also clear that Smith is willing to financially support a contender, and Utah leadership has no designs of entering any sort of rebuild.
Fischer also pointed out that all of the rumors swirling around the Jazz this offseason are from "NBA actors outside of the Jazz franchise." True.
Jazz GM Justin Zanik refuted the rumors after the team was bounced from the playoffs in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks. Even Mitchell and Gobert themselves have played down any notion of discord between them.
According to Fischer, if the Jazz move any players this offseason, it's more likely to be from the supporting-cast ranks.
League personnel speak far more certainly of the Jazz looking to explore moving complementary pieces such as wings Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O'Neale. That could introduce All-Star point guard Mike Conley into an interesting point guard market that seems to be developing this summer.
This is a welcome report to Jazz Nation in the wake of the virulent rumors that have infected the team's 2022 offseason early on.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
