Utah Jazz Receive: F Kelly Oubre Jr., C Mason Plumlee, G James Bouknight, C Kai Jones, 2023 First-Round Pick (via DEN), 2025 First-Round Pick, 2027 First-Round Pick, 2029 First-Round Pick
Charlotte Hornets Receive: G Donovan Mitchell
This trade package is the most straightforward deal of the three. This is also the closest to what the Hornets can do to repeat the Gobert blockbuster. That trade involved players on expiring contracts, rookie scale contracts and team-friendly deals. The draft compensation was also strong.
In this scenario, the Jazz are receiving the expiring contracts of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mason Plumlee to clear some future cap space.
Next offseason Utah could help facilitate trades with other teams looking to dump contracts and receive some draft capital along with them. It is what we saw the Detroit Pistons do in two separate deals with the New York Knicks so they could sign Jalen Brunson.
James Bouknight and Kai Jones are first-round picks from the 2021 NBA Draft. Neither player was able to break into the Hornets’ rotation as a rookie, playing in a combined 52 games for 367 minutes.
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In Utah, they should receive a ton of playing time as they will be focused on player development more than wins and losses. Utah was lacking young building blocks coming into the offseason, but Bouknight and Jones would be the fifth and sixth players acquired this offseason that are 25 years of age or younger.
Four first-round picks are also on their way to the Jazz. The pick via the Denver Nuggets is top-14 protected, but it would be a mild surprise if that isn’t conveyed.
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To keep that selection, the Nuggets would have to miss the postseason. The picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 from the Hornets are all unprotected.
