The Donovan Mitchell trade saga has come to an end. After weeks of what became very public negotiations between the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks, the NBA All-Star guard is on the move, but not to New York.
In fact, none of the preferred destinations that Mitchell had were able to pull off a deal as he isn’t heading to the Brooklyn Nets or Miami Heat, either. Instead, he will be heading to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a blockbuster deal according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports shared the details about which players are involved in the deal. Mitchell will be heading to Cleveland while Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji are heading to Salt Lake City. Agbaji was just selected by the Cavaliers as the 14th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
In addition to the three aforementioned players, the Jazz are going to be picking up three unprotected picks. Two pick swaps are also included.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers & Utah Jazz Updates
According to Wojnarowski, the unprotected picks will be conveyed in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The pick swaps will occur in 2026 and 2028. He also added that when combined with the Rudy Gobert trade, the Jazz have totaled 13 unprotected or lightly protected first-round picks through 2029.
This trade certainly pushed the Cavaliers’ timeline forward after a strong 2021-22 campaign. After losing in the NBA Play-In Tournament to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks this year, they are going to push up the Eastern Conference standings with the acquisition of Mitchell.
Cleveland now has one of the most impressive cores in the entire NBA. Mitchell joins All-Stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen along with budding All-Star Evan Mobley. That is a quartet very few teams can compete with long-term, as Mitchell is the oldest of the bunch turning 26 on September 7th.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers & Utah Jazz Updates
As for the Jazz, they are seemingly going into a rebuild but didn’t accomplish their goal of slashing salary in this deal. Markkanen has three seasons remaining on the contract he signed during the 2021 offseason, while Sexton agreed to a massive four-year extension as part of this trade.
