Trading Rudy Gobert was a Questionable Transaction for Jazz

A closer look could reveal the Gobert trade to have been an overrated transaction for the Jazz.

As we creep closer to the start of the 2022-2023 NBA season, the Utah Jazz remain in disarray. After multiple trade conversations with several potential trading partners, Donovan Mitchell is still on the Jazz roster. 

Mitchell's extended stay comes on the heels of a purported deal with the New York Knicks that was near-complete. And yet, the Jazz did not move Mitchell. 

Earlier this summer, the Jazz traded the three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves, which gave Jazz Nation much to. 

But was the Gobert trade overrated? Let's take a closer look at several specific details.

Gobert is due $38,172,414 this season. The players the Jazz received in the Gobert trade include Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Walker Kessler, and Leandro Bolmaro. The salary attached to this package of players is a combined $38,009,595. 

The Jazz also obtained multiple first-round picks in exchange for Gobert, but it's well documented that an NBA draft pick is the luck of the draw. The intriguing part of the Gobert trade is the rumored salary-cap space the Jazz will have in the future.

The 2022-2023 NBA salary cap is set at $123.7M. With the exclusion of Gobert's salary, the Jazz team salary due this year is $142,159,034. 

When the 2023-2024 season rolls around, Bojan Bogdanovic, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jared Butler, and Beverley have full contracts that will be erased from the Jazz payroll. Of these players, only Beverley would matter with regards to Gobert and future salary as the other contract was set to expire prior to the trade.

In 2023-2024, Mike Conley's contract completely expires with no player or team option. Losing this contract will provide plenty of additional cap space for the Jazz, but Conley's future played no role in the Gobert trade. 

Also, in 2023-2024, Rudy Gay and Jordan Clarkson have player options (meaning they can choose to stay in Utah), and these contracts played no role in the Gobert trade either. The Jazz have team options (meaning they can part ways) with Beasley and Udoka Azubuike.

If the Jazz part ways with these two, they'd be losing both a drafted player and an asset gleaned via the Gobert trade. Vanderbilt and Simone Fontecchio's contracts also expire in 2024, but they make a combined $8M.

With regards to freeing up cap space over the next two years, Conley, Bogdanovic, Clarkson, Walker-Alexander, Gay, Azubuike, and Butler could be expired from the Jazz roster and would provide salary cap relief up to $70.5M dollars. None of these players were involved in the Gobert trade.

I'm not suggesting that the team made a bad move in getting out of the Gobert business, but Jazz Nation must question whether the trade was the correct move. Draft picks are never certain, and the Jazz will have plenty of cap space in the next two years. 

Let's not forget that Gobert would have also been eligible for what is called 'Bird Rights,' basically meaning his contract would not count against the team salary cap.

The Jazz still have Mitchell as the season approaches, which only intensifies the lack of clarity. But considering all the pros and cons, what Utah gained and what it lost, it's fair to wonder whether Gobert should have remained in a Jazz uniform.

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Follow James on Twitter @jlewNBA.

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