Despite reported rift, Jazz not planning to trade Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 back on March 11. Not only did this force the suspension of the NBA season, but it led to pretty much all major professional sports being shut down in North America.

One day later, it was noted that teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive for the virus. This led to an ongoing rift between Gobert and his All-Star teammate. The backstory was simple. Mitchell took exception to how Gobert handled the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus immediately before the World Health Organization (WHO) defined it as a pandemic.

Now that the virus has spread throughout the United States, there’s no telling when sports will return. Once they do, there’s long been an expectation that Mitchell and Gobert can’t coexist on the same roster.

Talking about the dynamic in Salt Lake City this week, Sam Amick and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Utah has no plans on choosing between the two and will not look to trade one of them.

Charania reported earlier that the relationship between Mitchell and Gobert does not appear to be salvageable, and while the Jazz know that the rift is real, they will continue with the status quo.

For his part, Gobert recently noted that his relationship with Mitchell is good.