Who is the most important player on the Utah Jazz?

If you’re reading this, you probably already have an educated enough opinion to know that there are only two members of the Utah Jazz who have a chance to be named here. With all due respect to high-level NBA players like Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale, the Jazzmen live and die with the star duo of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. It’s readily apparent that these are the two most important players on the Utah Jazz. However, the question of which of the two is more important to the Jazzmen is much riper for discussion.

It may, in fact, be a pointless discussion. Mitchell and Gobert play drastically different roles for the Jazz. The former has blossomed into the squad’s annual leading scorer, while the latter is arguably the best defensive anchor in the NBA. Both are ultimately pivotal to the club’s success, and stand to reside in Salt Lake City for the foreseeable future.

That’s not going to stop us from hosting the aforementioned discussion. They say comparison is the thief of joy, but if that were true in the sports world, we would be joyless.

We’ll note that we’re only thinking about the 2021-22 season here. Donovan Mitchell is obviously significantly younger than Rudy Gobert, but the future doesn’t factor into our consideration. We’ll also be referencing stats from 2020-21, as the current season is too young to invest full stuck in.

The question is essentially this: if the Utah Jazz win the championship in 2021-22, who would we bet on to be named their Finals MVP?

Here’s the case for Rudy Gobert and the case for Donovan Mitchell as the most important Jazzman.