The Utah Jazz entered the 2021-22 NBA season with aspirations of competing for a championship. Instead, the team saw its season come to an abrupt end in the first round of the playoffs, as a loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night meant they were eliminated in six games.
As such, questions immediately began popping up about what the future holds for Utah, both with its roster and head coach Quin Snyder. Rumblings of discontent have seemingly followed the team all season, but despite that, a report from Tony Jones of The Athletic indicates that the plan is not to press the reset button as they look to put a team that can contend for a ring around Donovan Mitchell.
That isn’t the plan, according to several sources — at least initially. The Jazz, according to sources, are committed to building around Donovan Mitchell, which means taking a step back isn’t an option. Utah would like to keep climbing the mountain toward contention, and the Jazz feel like they still aren’t that far off, despite the disappointment of this season.
A three-time All-Star selection, Mitchell put up 25.5 points per game against Dallas but struggled from the field, connecting on 39.8 percent of his attempts and 20.8 percent of his shots from behind the three-point line.
