Three Potential Landing Spots For A Donovan Mitchell Trade
The idea of the Utah Jazz trading Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Robert has been talked about ad nauseam. The disgruntled relationship between the pair makes it seem evident that one of the two will be traded. The Jazz may opt to trade Mitchell, Gobert, or both. However, trading Mitchell comes with some additional perks. By trading Mitchell, the Jazz may be able to persuade Gobert to stay in town. If they decide to trade Gobert, Mitchell could still ask to be traded. In addition, Mitchell would bring back more assets.
The idea of trading Gobert has been explored. Since the trade market for Mitchell has heated up, let’s look at some potential landing spots that get Mitchell out of Utah.
Miami Heat
At this point, the Miami Heat seem to be in the lead to land Mitchell. If the Heat were to trade for Mitchell the Jazz would likely see a return of Tyler Herro and multiple first-round picks. The Heat may also add Duncan Robinson to the deal to relieve the salary cap issues that would come along with adding Mitchell’s 30 million dollar salary.
Mitchell to the Heat makes sense on both ends. Miami is looking to add another superstar next to Jimmy Butler. He would provide elite offense to a team that desperately needed another scoring option against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. A lineup consisting of Kyle Lowry, Donovan Mitchell, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo would do damage in the east, regardless of who the fifth guy in the lineup is.
The Jazz would be able to provide Herro the opportunity to reach his maximum potential. The young guard would be able to join a backcourt with Mike Conley while Rudy Gobert is down low. That team would not win a championship. But if they added more talent in the draft they may be able to find some success.
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks are in an interesting position. On one hand, they are looking to add another player alongside Trae Young that could push them over the edge. But there are also rumblings that they are looking to move on from John Collins. The willingness to trade Collins will certainly help the Hawks land Mitchell. Collins would headline this trade package. This trade could also include a young player like Kevin Huerter who would see a significant decrease in minutes with Mitchell playing the two. Or the Hawks could move on from Bogdan Bogdanovic instead. Regardless, Collins is making 23 million, so adding any player that makes more than seven million would put Atlanta in the green in terms of salary. This will certainly be appealing as they are dealing with serious salary-cap trouble. The Hawks would also have to add draft capital to spice up this deal for Utah
The thought process for the Hawks is simple here. You would have a backcourt of Young and Mitchell. At the same time, you no longer have to worry about where Collins stands on your roster. That sounds good enough to at least explore the option of adding Mitchell.
Utah would consider this as a package of Collins, another player, and draft capital would help them improve the remainder of their roster after Mitchell’s departure.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The idea of adding Donovan Mitchell to one of the best defensive teams in the league is an intriguing option. The Cavs would obviously take a hit on the defensive end of the court but adding Mitchell would help add some balance in Cleveland. Cleveland has a good amount of pieces that they could move in a trade for Mitchell. One of the most important is Collin Sexton. Sexton is currently a restricted free agent so he would have to agree to a sign-and-trade. Along with Sexton, the Cavs could move Isaac Okoro or Lauri Markkanen. Cleveland would probably be hesitant to give up both as that would further hurt their defense. By adding draft capital, Cleveland would have a package that the Jazz would struggle to ignore.
This trade would create a starting lineup of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. If they were able to keep Markkanen or Okoro they would have a strong six-man coming off the bench as well. However, the Cavs may opt to start Okoro if they keep him but that does not change the clear talent this roster has.
The Jazz would be getting a nice package of young talent that would help build their roster. Sexton at the two and Markkanen at the four would be interesting additions to the Jazz lineup. The draft capital would also help them fill out their roster and build for the future.
