Not that long ago, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were the foundations holding up the Utah Jazz roster.
Now, both Mitchell and Gobert are gone, traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves, respectively.
Gobert had positive things to say about his former teammate when Eurohoops caught up with the All-Star center and asked him about Cleveland acquiring his former All-Star guard teammate.
“I think he has a bright future,” Gobert told Eurohoops, regarding Mitchell. “He’s one of the best young players in his position. He’s going to keep getting better. I think it’s a great opportunity for him to just get to a new system, a new team and be able to show what he can do.”
Gobert and Mitchell played together in Utah for the past five seasons, helping the Jazz reach the Western Conference semifinals twice. Utah finished the 2020-21 season with a 52-20 record, the first time the organization had the best regular-season record in the NBA.
Despite that success, though, the Jazz had failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs three of the past four seasons.
Utah’s rebuild began in June when the franchise traded Gobert and Royce O’Neale, and the reshaping of its future took the next big step with Mitchell’s trade last week.
Gobert also spoke about the work Jazz CEO Danny Ainge had done this offseason in retooling the franchise.
“That’s what Danny Ainge decided to do,” Gobert told Eurohoops. “Sometimes you always have to explore all different options. That’s what they did. Time will tell if it was good or not. I think he definitely did a great job in getting as many assets as possible.”