Quin Snyder is leaving the Jazz.
Will Donovan Mitchell – already caught up in trade rumors – follow the coach from Utah?
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:Amid the reverberations of Quin Snyder’s departure after eight seasons as the Utah Jazz coach, All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell is described as “unsettled, unnerved and wondering what it means for the franchise’s future,” sources told ESPN on Sunday.
Mitchell considered Snyder a significant part of his reasoning for committing to a five-year maximum contract extension in 2020, and Snyder’s decision to step away on Sunday has left Mitchell “surprised and disappointed,” sources told ESPN.
There is no way Mitchell is surprised. Talk of Snyder leaving has been swirling for months.
Which makes me question how unsettled and unnerved Mitchell really is.
I see a few possibilities:
- Mitchell is using Snyder’s resignation as a pretext for a trade request he was going to make anyway. Mitchell doesn’t want to be seen as bailing on/having failed in Utah when the situation has been basically exactly what he signed up for with his contract extension. If he can frame his departure as a response to Snyder leaving, Mitchell can pin the move on the situation changing on him rather than him changing the situation.
- Mitchell is embellishing his reaction to Snyder leaving a tribute to the coach. If Snyder leaving is seen as mattering so much to Mitchell, that’d say something about Snyder’s importance.
- Mitchell is threatening the Jazz to gain more control within the organization. Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune connected the CAA dots:
In other words: Donovan Mitchell wants to have a significant say in who the next Jazz's head coach is https://t.co/H4Ot6jFrUp
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 5, 2022
To spell out the situation:
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 5, 2022
CAA-represented Donovan had CAA-represented Woj release that he was "surprised and disappointed" about Quin's departure (something that's been rumored for months, exactly 0 people are surprised) so that CAA-represented Johnnie Bryant can get the job
If the Jazz FO say "hey, we want to decide who the coach is, even if it doesn't please you" then Woj can release a further statement about how Donovan is even further unsettled, and they can use it as pretext to try to leave Utah.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 5, 2022
It's a power play. Donovan has a lot of power.
I still doubt Mitchell gets traded this offseason. Utah definitely doesn’t want to trade him. The Jazz have built around him and will likely continue to try to appease him, perhaps hiring Johnnie Bryant or another Mitchell-approved coach.
But this leak ought to at least somewhat raise the alarm level.
