Utah Jazz: Where does Donovan Mitchell rank among guards in franchise history?

Recently, we named Rudy Gobert the best center in Utah Jazz history. We’d love to claim that the Jazz currently roster the best guard in the annals of their franchise as well, but it’s just not realistic. Instead, Donovan Mitchell will have to settle for third place overall in these rankings.

At the age of 24, that still qualifies as quite an accomplishment. Furthermore, Spida absolutely has an opportunity to catch the second-best guard to suit up for the Jazz. If he wants to surpass the greatest guard in Utah Jazz history, he’ll need at least one NBA championship in a Jazz uniform to distinguish himself (and frankly, possibly more).

Since comparison is the thief of joy, we’ll look at some of Mitchell’s accomplishments over his first four seasons in Salt Lake City in a vacuum. Last season was the star guard’s best-to-date, as Mitchell averaged a team-high 26.4 points per game on the NBA’s best regular season club. That’s the type of success that few guards in Mitchell’s age bracket can rightfully claim throughout NBA history.

A dynamic scorer with a wide range of dribble moves and elite shot creation, Mitchell boasted a modernized shot profile last season, taking 42.3% of his field goal attempts from three-point range and largely avoiding the much-maligned midrange jumper, taking a mere .093% of his shots from 10 to 16 feet. The midrange shots he did select more often came from 3 to 10 feet (21.9% of his total field goal attempts), which is a better midrange shot: the shorter 2 is more effective than the longer 2.

Utah Jazz fans should be excited to watch Mitchell develop: he has every opportunity to be regarded as the second-best guard in their team’s history. For the time being, however, two guards in Jazz history deserve placement over their beloved superstar.