The teams in the West have shown a backward trend this season, and the situation of "strong in the West and weak in the East" may have completely become a thing of the past. As the Warriors drifted behind, only the Suns and Grizzlies in the West looked competitive to win the title. As a young team, the Jazz have fallen quickly after last year's short-lived, and it looks like they're at a bottleneck. In the past 7 games, the Jazz have only won the Lakers, and none of the other 6 games have won. With this happening at the end of the season when other teams are catching up, the Jazz look like they're running out of steam. The combination of Mitchell and Gobert has now reached the stage of "no breaking and no standing". Obviously, young Mitchell was the one who deserved to be left behind.
According to NBA reporter Tim McMahon, the Jazz's record this season has caused dissatisfaction among the team's top brass, and the combination of Mitchell and Gobert has been seriously questioned. Although there is no indication that the Jazz will break up the group, it seems to have become a foregone conclusion. If the Jazz put Gobert on the shelves, the Lone Ranger would pursue him violently. With the current momentum, the Jazz's journey in the playoffs won't be satisfactory, and they won't get a better result than last season (Western Conference semifinals). As a result, Gobert's trade seems to be a foreseeable thing.
Last season's Jazz played their best regular season performance in recent years. They finished first in the league with a record of 52 wins and 20 losses, their best performance since Marlon Stockton's generation. Meanwhile, the Jazz threw the best three-pointer performance in history and continued their good defensive tradition, and in the finale of the regular season, they were considered one of the strongest teams in the league. However, in the playoffs, the Jazz were reversed by the Clippers, and the perfect season ended with such a regrettable ending. This season, their performance is also decent, currently ranking third in the West, but they seem to have collapsed in the regular season, which has almost no reinforcement. The Suns and jazz are essentially representatives of team basketball, but the Suns can go to the finals, and the Jazz have folded in the West many times, and the gap between the stars is reflected.
The lack of star quality is the Jazz's biggest problem. Although Gobert and Mitchell are both All-Star players with top-salary contracts, they are indeed inferior to Paul and Booker. In most people's minds, Mitchell's playoff performance is comparable to that of a superstar, but in fact, this kind of game is a minority after all. Mitchell, who plays normally, is an outside ball carrier with low efficiency, poor vision and poor defense. Gobert is the ceiling for blue-collar players in the league, who can do the best in defense and rebounding, and can't ask for too much else. Such a combination is a cut from the top level of the league in both offense and defense, and in the playoffs, the superstar stage, if Mitchell can't play beyond the norm, the Jazz's situation will become precarious. Therefore, the Jazz have no problem sending Gobert away, it should be said that from the time Gobert signed the maximum salary contract, they were doomed to failure.
For the Jazz, Gobert is "a pity to be tasteless and abandoned", but for the Lone Rangers, Gobert is the last piece of the puzzle for them to impact the championship. The lone rangers, who love European players, after peacefully breaking up with Porzingis, have set their sights on Gobert, and they have really tasted the sweetness in European players. Doncic seems to be in the league's top five superstars, but the Lone Rangers have always been tepid, and after trading Dinwiddie in the middle of the season, they solved the problem of the second ball carrier. The offensive problem is alleviated, the defensive problem will come to the table, and a player like Gobert with his own defensive system must be the first choice of the lone ranger. Doncic himself needs a lot of balls, and Gobert hardly occupies any of the balls, and his height arm span is also a suitable target for eating, which is why the Lone Ranger is so fond of him.
However, the Jazz trade Gobert, and its asking price will certainly not be lower than that of the average All-Star, and the Lone Ranger does not have the right chips. However, the Lone Ranger's original robbery of Porzingis from the Knicks was also unexpected by everyone. If Gobert can be brought in smoothly, while keeping Dinwiddie and Doncic, the Lone Ranger may become one of the strongest teams in the West. Doncic, who has not yet reached his peak, may be able to start his own era in advance.