Ok, let me start by acknowledging the obvious. Yes, the Utah Jazz absolutely should have traded Donovan Mitchell. It was time to move on, and a core built solely around Spida would’ve been tailor-made for locking the Jazz up in basketball limbo—the 11th-to-7th-place range of the Western Conference standings.
Too good to tank, too bad to contend, Utah with Mitchell and without Gobert would have been directionless while the front office waited for something—anything—to change their fortune.
On top of that, Donovan was clearly unhappy in the Beehive State and was desperate for a change of scenery.