Utah Jazz French giant Rudy Gobert reached a five-year, $205-million contract extension with the team, confirmed Gobert himself to ESPN.

It was not what the two-time Defensive Player of the Year had asked for at the beginning – a super-maximum deal with a starting salary at 35 percent of the salary cap – but it was close enough – Gobert will receive $35.3 million in his first year, about 31.4 percent of the salary cap.

"It means that they believe in me," said the 28-year-old to ESPN. "They believe in what we've been building over the years with this whole organization, with Coach (Quin Snyder) and all the guys. For me, it's an incredible blessing. It's a very motivating feeling to know that we all share the same vision, and we all share this goal for this state and for this franchise."

The new deal has made Gobert the third-highest paid player in NBA history, only below Giannis Antetokounmpo and Russell Westbrook, above Anthony Davis, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, and multiple other bigger names than Gobert.

By contrast, Dikembe Mutombo, one of the best defenders in league history, signed a five-year, $60-million contract with the Atlanta Hawks in 1996 summer when Shaquille O'Neal joined the Los Angeles Lakers at a seven-year, $120-million deal, Alonzo Mourning went to the Miami Heat for five-year, $105 million and Juwan Howard extended his contract with the Washington Bullets for the same price.

However, Utah did not have much choice other than keeping Gobert with an excessive deal. Their pain is shared by other small-market teams. One thing for sure, Utah have lost the ability to make any big move to their lineup for at least four years in the future.

The big contracts of Gobert and Donovan Mitchell will start to take effect in the 2021-22 season. Considering that Utah will also pay Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic $12.4 million and $17.9 million, respectively, they are unlikely to keep Mike Conley, whose deal is coming due in 2021 summer. One year later, Derrick Favors and Joe Ingles are also becoming free agents. The only way Utah can keep them to stay competitive is to pay a huge number of the luxury tax, but that has never been their style.

Like we said earlier, the 2020-21 season may be Utah's best and only chance to achieve success.

Kyle Kuzma reached a three-year, $40-million contract extension with the Lakers, according to ESPN.

That's good news for the 25-year-old because he has been in almost every trade rumor involving the purple and gold in the past two years. At least now, he does not have to worry about his future in the 2020-21 season. Besides, his performance in the last three seasons is not actually good enough for an annual salary of over $10 million.

"KUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Congrats bro!!! Next dinner on you for sure! Vino chronicles @kylekuzma," tweeted James after the news.

Keeping Kuzma fits into the Lakers' strategy during this offseason. Instead of collecting space to chase the third star on the free-agent market next year, they chose to invest in improving their squad now with the best men they could get. Though Kuzma has not been very consistent on the floor, his size, athleticism, and offensive skills are all in his favor in today's NBA.

The Lakers may be playing dual tactics too. Kuzma will be available for trade after his new deal takes effect. One of the reasons the purple and gold did not make many moves in any big transaction was the lack of proper contracts. The ones James and Davis hade were too big, others' were too small. Kuzma's new deal plus another similar one and a small contract can easily match the starting salary of a max deal.