Hoodie Network
Spida Mitchell is heading to the Cleveland!! The Cavaliers have traded Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, 3 unprotected 1st round picks, and 2 1st round pick swaps (meaning that the Jazz will get whichever pick is higher in the draft) to the Utah Jazz in exchange for 3x All-Star Donovan Mitchell. Let’s break it down for both the Cavs and the Jazz.
The Jazz Commit to a Full-Blown Rebuild
After this last season for Utah, I was very confident that Rudy Gobert was not going to be on the Jazz roster next season. His chemistry with Donovan Mitchell had completely eroded and their relationship had simply run its course. The Utah Jazz were not going to win a championship with Mitchell and Gobert as their cornerstones. They traded Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves and got a completely ludicrous return for him: 5 1st round picks plus a 1st round rookie and 2-3 decent role players. I thought there was a chance that Utah would keep Donovan and build around him with all of their draft capital, but it quickly became clear that they were looking to move him, with the Knicks being the favorite landing spot.
According to Woj’s podcast, the Jazz made an offer of RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes, 2 unprotected 1st rounders, and 1 protected 1st for Donovan Mitchell. The Knicks preferred to keep Grimes, wanting to swap him with Immanuel Quickley in the trade offer. The Jazz responded by wanting all 3 picks in the trade offer to be unprotected. That’s where the trade talks stalled. When New York declined to make the trade Monday night, Cavs GM Koby Altman picked up the phone on Tuesday. With this deal, the Jazz have the following 1st round picks:
- 2023: Own; MIN; Least Favorable of HOU, BKN, or PHI
- 2024: None
- 2025: Own; MIN; CLE
- 2026: Most Favorable of Own, MIN, or CLE
- 2027: Own; MIN; CLE
- 2028: Most Favorable of Own or CLE
- 2029: Own; MIN; CLE
This is an almost unbelievable level of draft capital. They should look to trade some of these picks for established stars or to trade up in the draft for blue-chip prospects. The future is exciting in Utah, and they might not even be done trading.
Cleveland Gets the Perfect Piece
Now, the draft capital the Cavs are trading away is a little more than I would have liked, but when guys like Rudy Gobert are going for 5 1st round picks, guys like Mitchell have to go for a lot more. I am sad to see Lauri Markkanen and Ochai Agbaji go, but I’m more excited to see Donovan Mitchell arrive. Even with the increased number of picks, this trade is a perfect trade for Cleveland.
If you follow me on Twitter, @masonspelich, you’ll know that I was a big proponent of moving on from Collin Sexton. He is a very good player with the potential to be a multiple time All-Star, but he was not a good fit with this Cavs team. He was far too ball dominant to work in the Cavs offense. And when he was out last year with injury, Darius Garland flourished into an All-Star point guard with the ball in his hands more, team chemistry was through the roof, and Kevin Love started to look happy again. Collin Sexton should be a very good player for Utah, but his time in Cleveland was clearly over. He gets traded to Utah and signs a 4yr/$72 million contract that Cleveland couldn’t have offered him.
If you watched the Cavaliers last year, you could see that they were missing a pure scorer. I loved when they traded for Caris LeVert – he can flat out ball – but he just isn’t in the upper echelon of the league’s scorers. Donovan Mitchell is. Since coming into the league Donovan Mitchell has been a reliable scorer. In his rookie year, he was already in the top 25 of the league in PPG. The past 3 years, he’s been in the top 15. Adding Mitchell’s scoring ability to the young Cavs core immediately puts them into the top 5-6 teams in the Eastern Conference. Don’t forget, Cleveland was rolling last season before injuries and COVID took them off course.
The Cavs add a 26 PPG scorer to a team that plays good defense and rebounds incredibly well. And with Donovan Mitchell coming in to bolster the offense, I see the Cavaliers as strong contenders. Not just this year, but for many years to come. Darius Garland is 22, Jarrett Allen is 24, Evan Mobley is 21, Isaac Okoro is 21. That core alone will continue to get better as they get more experience. Donovan Mitchell is only 25. He’s under contract through the 2025 season and has a player option for the 2026 season, so he’s staying in Cleveland for at least 3 seasons. I think within those 3 seasons, Cleveland will make it to an NBA Finals.