What’s the alternative?
And I’m serious, do you start trying to trade him? Does any team put half as much value on him as we do? Let him walk? Insult him with a lower offer?
We talked all year about how under appreciated he is, how he is actually a top 10 player in terms of two way impact. How he makes our whole offense go. Even being under appreciated by the public, he got himself eligible for a Supermax contract. One of the best defensive players in history and a completely unselfish, yet crucially important offensive player.
Yes the playoffs are a different story, but would you really complain if Gobert was anchoring 60 win teams for the length of his contract?
Let’s look at it this way. We are looking to use our cap space this year. Next year if we sign Gobert it wouldn’t kick in until the next year. At that point we give Mitchell a max rookie extension. Is there any chance we don’t give Mitchell that contract? No. Will DL/Gail/etc. gut a really good and beloved team for financial reasons? No. So we roll with it. None of the dudes mentioned (LeBron, Durant, Curry, etc) will give us the option of spending the Supermax on someone who is ‘worth it’ Gobert is who we have, so let’s hope we are all right about him.
Mitchell and Gobert will be eating up massive amount of space, that is the future of the Jazz. So you hope for more Ingles’, Royce’s, Caroll’s, etc. you draft some high upside dudes and really hope they pan out, and above all: you make some big moves right now and go for broke while you still have the flexibility.
The league is in upheaval, a dynasty may be winding down, a window could open. It’s a big two years.