Sports
Issues between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert resurface as Jazz woes continue
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz woes continue as they not only dropped another game despite being ahead by more than 20 points, but issues between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert appear to have resurfaced.
Following yet another seismic collapse by Utah, the Jazz have now lost 15 games this season after surrendering double-digit leads in each of those matchups. In addition, they also find themselves in the sixth spot, half a game behind Denver and only 1.5 games ahead of Minnesota. With only four games left, two of which are against the NBA’s top teams in Phoenix and Memphis, Utah very well could be on the cusp of having to participate in the play-in tournament and at this point, they’re not a favorite in any particular matchup.
To add insult to injury, issues between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert appear to have resurfaced and this era of the Jazz could very well be coming to its end.
According to multiple sources, Donovan Mitchell only passes to Rudy Gobert on average, twice a night. To be clear, that’s passes, not even assists between the franchise duo. One also does not have to look very hard in order to realize that this is the case as time and again, Mitchell and Co. refuse to feed the big man inside the paint, most recently demonstrated in their embarrassing loss to the Warriors.
Any objective basketball fan would tell you that this is a pass that should be made. pic.twitter.com/G1V7ajnItf
— Rudy Cultbert 🔮 (@tiffanee_dawn) April 3, 2022
Placing the cherry on top of this disastrous situation, both Mitchell and Gobert appear to be making passive-aggressive remarks towards each other on social media.
On Gobert’s Instagram account, he posted a series of photos, two of which were the exact same photo of him inside the paint with his hands in the air, clearly trying to take advantage of a size mismatch. The caption read, “Trust it.” which appears to be a plea for his teammates, maybe one in particular to pass him the ball inside more.
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Mitchell on the other hand appears to be less straightforward with just several photos of himself and the caption, “Fo Five” with a smiling emoji. However, one of the photos Mitchell appears to be looking in the direction of the basket with the ball in one hand and the other signaling he’ll handle the possession.
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Whether or not these two were sending messages to each other remains to be confirmed, however, with the way Utah is playing right now, they appear destined for another early playoff exit and it seems unlikely that the current roster will remain intact if that is the case.