The Jazz are reportedly against rebuilding, but their apparent reasoning could put them on a dangerous path

For all of the doom and gloom surrounding the Utah Jazz since their first-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks, it’s worth noting that this is still a team with two All-Stars in their 20s that has won 67 percent of its regular-season games over the past three seasons. This is a flawed roster, and one that probably should be shaken up, but there are far worse places to be. Utah can credibly talk itself into retooling this offseason around Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and perhaps plugging some of the defensive holes that have knocked them out of the past two postseasons.

It, therefore, isn’t all that surprising to hear that the Jazz do not intend to rebuild this offseason, according to Jake Fischer. While Gobert, specifically has been a rumor mill fixture over the past month or so and Mitchell has long been coveted by his former agents at CAA who now run the New York Knicks, Fischer reports that the Jazz are looking to explore deals around role players Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O’Neale and perhaps Mike Conley rather than breaking up their star duo. While a more aggressive plan would probably suit Utah better in the long term, this is, again, a credible approach in the ever-conservative world of small-market roster-building. Teams like Utah loathe giving away stars because it can be so difficult to find new ones.

But according to Fischer, there is an ulterior motive for potentially retaining Mitchell and Gobert, and it is one that has little to do with the on-court product. No, according to Fischer, a “critical element” guiding the Jazz this offseason is the fact that they are set to host the All-Star Game next February. “It’s of great importance to Jazz governor Ryan Smith that Utah has multiple players in that midseason classic, sources said, similar to how the Cavaliers were represented by both Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen during the 2022 affair in Cleveland,” Fischer reports.

Utah isn’t…