According to reliable sources, mitchell, the current jazz guard Mitchell may have greater ideals for his future, saying that the all-star-level rising star is likely to play for a team with a larger market in the future. The reporter said: "There are rumors in the league that the market size of a team has become increasingly important for Mitchell. Obviously, as a typical small-ball city team, the Jazz can no longer meet Mitchell's needs for the market. From the reporter's words, it can be seen that Mitchell is likely to choose to leave the team in the future.
In 36 games for the Jazz this season, Mitchell averaged 25.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 33.3 minutes per game, shooting 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point range. Under his leadership, the Jazz's current record is still normal, with a record of 28 wins and 12 losses, temporarily ranking third in the West, and only two wins away from the top two in the West.
The reason for this idea this season is not because the Jazz can't pay Mitchell's ideal annual salary, on the contrary, Mitchell's current contract is a five-year, $163 million maximum salary contract that is renewed with the team in the summer of 2020, which is also a very high annual salary in the league. Rather, he believes the Jazz, which is in the small-ball market, can't give themselves a better future. On the one hand, although the Jazz have played very well in recent seasons, they have far less attention than most of the same level in the league, which has a lot of impact on many aspects of Mitchell.
On the other hand, according to relevant reporters, in the first round of voting for All-Star fans this season, Mitchell only ranked seventh among Western Guard. Although the Jazz are currently one of the best in the league, and Mitchell has played one of the best performances of his career, even better than many of the guards ranked ahead of him, and he also won the Player of the Month last month, but the number of Jazz fans is too small for Mitchell to match his strength. So far, Mitchell has only been named to the All-Star Team twice in his career.
In the 2017 draft, the Jazz selected Mitchell as a point guard with the 13th pick in the first round, and he scored 20.5 points in the rookie season, once again proving the magic law of "13 picks" and once becoming a popular candidate for the best rookie. In the following seasons, Mitchell's performance has been improving, and he has been named to the All-Star Team for two consecutive years from the 2019-2020 season. In the playoffs, Mitchell also went from not adapting to such a big stage at the beginning to scoring 57 points in the 2020 playoffs. All in all, he is currently becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
However, even if Mitchell has played such a good performance, the Jazz's record in recent seasons has not been satisfactory. While the Jazz have always been able to play very well in the regular season under the likes of Mitchell and Gobert, they have never been able to go any further in the playoffs. In his rookie season, Mitchell led the team to the second round, but they were easily eliminated from the Rockets. The following season, the Jazz were also eliminated by the Rockets 4-1 in the first round.
In the 2019 playoffs, Mitchell played a crazy performance, in the first round of seven games, Mitchell scored 50+ points in both games, averaging a staggering 36.3 points per game, but the Jazz were unfortunately eliminated by the Nuggets' big reversal in a 3:1 lead. By last season, the Jazz had a sudden break in the regular season, finishing first in the league and easily advancing to the second round. But in the second round of the game, they were unfortunately reversed by their opponents with a 2-0 lead over the Clippers, and they still broke down after being so close to the Western Conference Finals, which disappointed many fans.
So far this season, although the Jazz have temporarily achieved a very good record of third place in the West, almost no one outside will put them in the ranks of the championship team. After all, the poor performance in the playoffs for several consecutive seasons has disappointed many fans. To make matters worse, judging from the reporter's disclosure, Mitchell is likely to have the idea of leaving the Jazz in the future, which will be a big blow to the Jazz. On the one hand, the reason why they have been able to reach the playoffs in a row is largely due to Mitchell's excellent performance.
Mitchell, on the other hand, is a draft player for the Jazz, as is Gobert, the core of the interior in the current lineup. Throughout the history of the Jazz, most of the famous players are also players they have won through the draft, such as Malone and Stockton, who led the team to the Finals twice, Malone and Stockton, former All-Star guard Deron, and Hayward, the leader of the team before Mitchell entered the league. While this means that the Jazz's draft vision is very good, it also shows that few big-name stars will actively choose to join a small market team like the Jazz.
After Hayward left the team, the Jazz waited for an All-Star like Mitchell, but the current small market of the team makes it impossible to see its future. After all, Mitchell himself comes from a big city like New York, and it is true that it is better for his career to play for a team that can go to the big market. Although Mitchell's contract will only expire in the 2025-2026 season, there are already many people in the Jazz management who are worried that they will not be able to keep the team's core at that time. This is difficult for them to accept, after all, it takes a long time to develop the dominant star through the draft.
Of course, at present, Mitchell himself has not publicly responded to such news, and it is only a rumor from the outside world for the time being. If the Jazz can work hard to build the team's lineup before Mitchell's contract expires, add more reliable helpers to Mitchell, and make a breakthrough in the playoffs, then I believe Mitchell will not easily choose to leave the team.