NBA news: Howard Beck Discloses Details About The Utah Jazz’s Locker Room Problems.
The Utah Jazz is allegedly grappling with locker room strife following the NBA trade deadline on Thursday.
Beck indicated on Friday’s broadcast of The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix and Howard Beck. He stated (h/t HoopsHype) that “some tensions” exist within the Jazz locker room. And that they “may be a bit worse than we’ve been lead to think.”
With a 34-21 record, the Jazz has won four straight games and is in fourth place in the Western Conference. Utah wasn’t very active at the trade deadline. But it did gain two players in a three-team deal with the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs.
Joe Ingles, an injured guard, and Elijah Hughes, a forward, were both moved away by the Jazz. Guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker and forward Juancho Hernangomez each received two second-round choices.
NBA news: How do the Jazz move forward
This offers the Jazz more depth to complement Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, and Jordan Clarkson, who form the nucleus of the team. Mitchell and Gobert are three-time All-Stars for the Jazz, and Gobert is a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
However, since the start of the 2019-20 season, allegations of a rift between Mitchell and Gobert have circulated. Due to Gobert’s conduct during the early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gobert insulted the NBA’s rules on social distance by touching all the microphones and recording equipment in front of him. Only days before he became the first player to test positive for COVID-19.
Gobert was also “careless” in the locker room before testing positive, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Interacting with other gamers and their own items.
Mitchell was later found to be positive with COVID-19. He said he was unhappy at Gobert during an interview on Good Morning America (h/t ESPN’s Tim MacMahon), saying, “It took me a bit to kind of calm off.”
Mitchell and Gobert’s connection has been a source of controversy. The Jazz has not moved past the second round despite making the playoffs in each of the previous five seasons. This may have added to the apparent discontent in Utah.
The Jazz is still candidates to make it out of the Western Conference this season. Even if they haven’t climbed over the hump yet, especially after a 111-85 win against the second-seeded Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
