That always made the idea that the Utah Jazz could keep Donovan Mitchell after dealing Rudy Gobert somewhat ridiculous. Nothing about Ainge suggests he’d be interested in chasing the play-in tournament for a year or two before Mitchell himself is finally forced to go to a candidate of his choice. Ange is many things. Delusion is not one of them. Once it became clear that the Jazz in their previous build were never going to win a championship, a complete reboot that included trading both Mitchell and Gobert became inevitable. So as we construct potential deals for Mitchell in light of Adrian Wojnarowski’s report on the All-Star guard’s availability, we must do so through the lens of Ainge’s aspirations. He is not a man known for half measures. He’s not going to want to make a deal that keeps the Jazz somewhat competitive. The name of the game here is picks and upside. In a perfect world, Utah would land assets that will perform down the line without threatening their immediate efforts to tank. Here are the five teams best positioned to give the Jazz such a package. Check the opt-in box to confirm you want to join.
Thanks for subscribing!
Monitor your inbox.
Sorry!
An error occurred while processing your subscription.
You’ve surely heard of hookups by now. Mitchell is repped by CAA. Knicks president Leon Rose once ran CAA’s basketball operations. Mitchell grew up in nearby Connecticut. His father worked for the New York Mets. The interest here is almost certainly mutual. The question is the price. The Knicks can send the Jazz as much draft capital as anyone. They have eight tradeable first-round picks, including four of their own. In Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin and Quentin Grimes, they have an interesting group of youngsters for Utah to take a chance on. But the line in the sand here is probably former No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett. After all, if the Knicks trade everything for Mitchell, they have no room for improvement. Combining Mitchell (25) with Barrett (22) and Jalen Brunson (25) would give New York three young studs to develop. Could Barrett prevent the Utah deal? Probably not, especially in light of the limitations other suitors face here. If the Knicks put a top seven or eight on the table, nobody else is going to get to the top. Right now, he’s in the driver’s seat with or without Barrett, and that probably suits Utah. He’s too good to beat properly anyway. Miami’s tight draft cap will make trading Mitchell difficult. The Heat have no outside first-round picks and owe one of their own in 2025 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. As it stands, they can send the Jazz two first-round picks, three trades and 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic. If they get a little creative with their pick language, they could send the Jazz a third, but that strategy isn’t without risks. Protections on the pick owed to the Thunder could delay his move until 2026, and if it happens, the Heat can legally trade the 2028 pick after that only under some notable CBA rules. The Stepien rule prevents teams from not having a first-round pick in consecutive drafts. The “Seven-Year Rule” prevents teams from trading picks for more than seven years. In other words: The Heat could offer their 2023, 2027 and 2029 options for Mitchell on the condition that they make a 2025 pick to the Thunder, but only if that lottery-protected Thunder pick doesn’t carry over in 2025 , the 2027 pick will revert to 2028 and the 2029 pick will have to be converted to seconds because 2030 is more than seven years away. Working in Miami’s favor, however, is Aige’s longstanding interest in Herro. There was reportedly enough interest in adding the former Kentucky star with the No. 14 pick in the 2019 Draft, but Miami snagged him one spot earlier. If Ainge views Herro as a cornerstone of a post-Mitchell roster, he will consider Miami’s offer. A quick note worth mentioning: While Mitchell and Bam Adebayo are both on Designated Rookie extensions, they can legally play on the same team because Miami drafted Adebayo. However, Mitchell cannot play on the same team as Ben Simmons, who is also on a designated rookie deal but was traded to Brooklyn. Teams may have two Designated Rookie Players, provided at least one of them is drafted by that team. Speaking of Brooklyn… As we have discussed, Simmons and Mitchell cannot play for the Nets next season. So… what if Simmons was on another team? Here’s the scenario: The Nets trade Kevin Durant to a team capable of stocking them with both draft picks and high-level veterans (say the Toronto Raptors because of their endless supply of wings). Then they flip and flip Simmons elsewhere for draft picks and, predictably, trade Kyrie Irving to the Lakers for even more draft capital. Suddenly, between three trades, the once-barren Nets have amassed enough picks to return to Utah for Mitchell, and through Durant, they’ve also amassed enough supporting talent around Mitchell to reliably contend for the somewhat near future (say some combination by Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr. and Precious Achiuwa). Not an immediate contender, but not too shabby either, right? It’s at least a start, a foundation built on a 25-year-old All-Star who seemingly wants to be in his hometown and a supporting cast transplanted from the NBA’s best development infrastructure. Considering how limited Brooklyn’s options appear right now, he could probably do a lot worse than starting over with Mitchell. The real closure here is the deal mechanics. There are so many moving parts to consider. Is there a suitor willing to give up multiple first basemen for Simmons? Minnesota was the obvious one, but they just gave it their all for Gobert. Maybe Cleveland? And would Durant accept a trade to any destination other than his preferred Phoenix or Miami? Will the Lakers cough up a second first round pick for Irving? So many things have to happen for Brooklyn to be sustainable. The path is there if the Nets want to take it, but it’s treacherous. Let’s just say Toronto isn’t particularly excited about trading for a 34-year-old Durant. Can Mitchell be a viable alternative? Toronto is so loaded with defensive wings that protecting them on that end of the floor seems more than doable. His one-on-one scoring is exactly what they’ve been missing since Kawhi Leonard left, and his youth and three years of remaining team control would give them some runway to build around. But the fundamental question here is the same as the one facing Toronto regarding Durant: Will the Raptors offer Scottie Barnes? The answer is probably not. Barnes is a potential future star. But Mitchell is a star right now, and unlike Durant, will likely stay that way for quite some time. The Raptors may be giving up some upside by taking the sure, but they’re ridding themselves of most of the risk of Barnes’ development stalling. If he develops into a consistent All-Star like Mitchell, his development will be considered a success. The Raptors traded a star who didn’t want to be in Toronto once before. Losing Leonard likely scares Toronto out of contention. Unless Mitchell expresses significant interest in joining the Raptors, Barnes is simply too valuable to hope that Mitchell is excited to be a Raptor and can lead you to a championship. However, if they were to give up Barnes for anything, a 25-year-old All-Star would likely be among their first choices. This is one of those ideas that makes more sense on paper than it does in reality. Mitchell is better than CJ McCollum. He is also half a decade younger. New Orleans has up to six first-round tradeable picks, and two of those could be valuable, high-level Lakers picks. If New Orleans was primarily concerned with maximizing its title window, it would make a lot of sense to flip McCollum for some assets and then go all-in on Mitchell. But basketball is not played on paper. Teams simply don’t trade established stars only to intentionally replace them six months later. McCollum was a key voice in the locker room last season. They simply aren’t going to dismantle a team that had a good feel last season to pursue a borderline All-NBA player who would represent only a modest upgrade over the incumbent at his position. That’s not how basketball works. If they were, the Pelicans would likely be courting Durant a little more aggressively right now. So no, the Pelicans probably aren’t into Mitchell. They happen to be one of the few teams with the assets to land him while remaining long-term contenders. Eventually, the Pelicans will likely push their chips on a third star alongside Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. It probably won’t be Mitchell.
