Donovan Mitchell trade winners, losers: Warriors, Kings benefit in blockbuster

https://sports.yahoo.com/donovan-mitchell-trade-winners-losers-224024347.html

Tom Dierberger
Thu, September 1, 2022 at 6:40 PM

Donovan Mitchell has a new home. And it’s not in the Empire State.

On Thursday, the Utah Jazz reportedly traded the three-time All-Star guard to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round selections and two pick swaps.

Now that the dust has settled and "Spida" will begin spinning his web in the Eastern Conference, who emerged as winners after the deal? Who are the losers? It's time to speculate.

Winner: Mock drafts in Utah

The Jazz are going to need to open a new storage unit for all the first-round picks and pick swaps they’ve acquired this summer.

Earlier in the offseason, Utah received four future first-round picks and one pick swap (as well as a small village of role players) from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Rudy Gobert.

In Thursday's “Spida” deal, the Jazz received three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps. That means Utah now has the rights to 13 first-round picks (including three potential swaps) through the 2029 NBA Draft.

The fire sale in Salt Lake City likely isn't finished, either. The Jazz still have Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley and Malik Beasley, among others, that could receive trade interest before the deadline.

Jazz fans might need to bookmark Tankathon as their new browser home page.

Loser: Sigh, the Knicks

Even before the offseason began, Mitchell appeared destined to land in New York.

All-Star big man Julius Randle and a pair of Knicks executives reportedly annoyed Utah's front office by sitting courtside during Game 1 of the Jazz's playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. Mitchell is a longtime fan of the New York Mets, but trade rumors stirred again when he attended a game at Citi Field this summer.

However, trade talks reportedly fell through between the Jazz and Knicks.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday, citing sources, that New York declined "to include Quentin Grimes into a trade with RJ Barrett" on Monday night, opening the door for the Cavaliers to sneak in and scoop "Spida."

Oof. That might not age well.

Winner: Contending Cavs

Since the 1998-99 season, the Cavaliers have been to the playoffs nine times. All nine appearances were with LeBron James on the roster.

Now, the Cavaliers are adding Mitchell to their pair of All-Stars in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, not to mention Caris LeVert, Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio coming off the bench.

Goodbye, play-in tournament. Hello, playoff basketball.

Loser: LeBron James

As we know, James departed Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers after getting swept by the Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals. Sure, James won a title with the Lakers in the bubble, but where are they now?

Cleveland is young and could be playing late into next summer.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are old. They are coming off a disappointing 11th-place finish in the West and might need to employ a therapist to work through drama in their backcourt between newly acquired Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook. "Space Jam 2" coming out last year also doesn't boost James' resume during his Hollywood tenure.

However, James appears to be a fan of the trade and happy for Cleveland.

[click on link to see embedded video/tweet]

Winner: Kings’ playoff chances

To make the play-in tournament, the Kings need to be better than five teams in the Western Conference. Utah’s fire sale puts them in the cellar of the conference along with the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.

That means Sacramento just needs to finish with more wins than one other West team and win a play-in tournament game or two to snap the 16-year drought.

Lakers? New Orleans Pelicans? Portland Trail Blazers?

It only takes one.

Winner: Warriors, other West hopefuls

There will be no easy path to the NBA Finals on the other side of the bracket.

The Jazz were never going to contend for the Western Conference crown, but the trade for Mitchell makes the Cavaliers yet another threat in the East. Between the Milwaukee Bucks and reigning conference champion Boston Celtics, not to mention Kevin Durant patching things up with the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers, the East is stacked.

As the Warriors learned last playoff run with Boston playing back-to-back Game 7s in their final two series before the 2022 NBA Finals, every extra game played matters.

The path through the West won't be a cakewalk either, but this trade does nothing but help West contenders like Golden State.

Loser: Stephen A. Smith

Poor guy.

[click on link to see embedded video/tweet]

Winner: Brian Windhorst

"What's going on in Utah?"

Windhorst produced the most viral meme of the NBA offseason by speculating that the Jazz were selling the team shortly before they moved Gobert.

After the trade was reported, Mitchell even used the Windhorst meme himself to acknowledge that he was heading to Cleveland.

More Donovan Mitchell news:


What does the Donovan Mitchell trade mean to the Boston Celtics?

https://sports.yahoo.com/does-donovan-mitchell-trade-mean-013318672.html

Justin Quinn
Fri, September 2, 2022 at 9:33 PM

[img]https://i.servimg.com/u/f40/14/45/19/39/scree373.jpg[/img

Rightfully lost a bit in the panic surrounding what the Boston Celtics ought to do in the wake of the news that veteran forward Danilo Gallinari being likely to miss all of the 2022-23 NBA season due to a torn left ACL is a deeper analysis of the trade that sent Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers and what that could mean for the Celtics.

But there’s been some despite the other important issues happening far deeper in the doldrums than is normal — or in this case, desired. Hosto f the CLNS Media “Winning Plays” podcast Brian Robb and guest Tim McKone of 98.5 The Sports Hub gave their instant reaction to Utah Jazz CEO of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge pulling off a blockbuster deal by sending Mitchell from the Jazz to the Cavs.

How much of a threat are the young Cavs in the East this year and potentially down the road to Boston?



The guys also analyze Danilo Gallinari’s injury and potential big opportunities up and down the roster in his absence.

With respect to the DM trade to the Cavs there is one clear winner IMO,  The Utah Jazz.  

Donovan is a dynamic scorer and that gives the Cavs a dynamic scoring backcourt but how much of an upgrade is it really?

Colin Sexton was injured last year and only played in 11 games but in the previous year he led the Cavs in scoring while averaging 24.3 PPG.  The previous year he averaged 20.8 PPG.  At age 23 he is already a career 20 PPG scorer.

Lauri Markkanen was a solid stretch 4 starter and averaged 15 PPG and 5.7 rebounds.

The rookie Ochai Agbaji out of Kansas really looks like a high end wing that can play at both ends.  I guess they figured Isaac Okoro will develop into a solid 2 way wing for them'

Even in a player for player swap (Sexton for Mitchell) there really is not a huge gap in productivity between the two.

Considering all that the Cavs gave up this trade looks questionable.  

I agree that the Knicks come out as losers.  They could have made the trade and still kept RJ Barrett if they were willing to include 3 unprotected 1st rounders instead of 2.  They would have had to also part with at least one of their up and coming guys but so what.  They are in a similar situation as the Celtics were before Brad paired down his roster.  You cannot develop all those young players simultaneously.

Lebron James

So he was suppose to stay in Cleveland?  He is on a struggling Laker team now but that has nothing to do with him leaving Cleveland.

I guess all the Western Clubs will have one less tough team to play.

With respect to Boston I see no good reason to wait on replacing Gallo.  We have 3 open roster spots and since he is gone for the year most likely we will have 4.  

Brad should not try to win with mirrors. Perhaps one more piece added to last year's team could have pushed us over the top.

I think Danny fleeced another team. It may take awhile, but he has great picks to build up his franchise and to use in trade packages. I’m sure any fan would prefer what Danny just accomplished to what the Sixers pulled all those years, extreme tanking….

What it boils down to, to me, is: alot of teams have gotten better, even the Celtics before this Gallinari disaster, Brogden will be a plus for sure. I can see him eventually in the starting lineup at certain times. To me, all of this means that, there can be no "games off" , losing to teams they should beat, playing down to the other teams ability. If they want to be seen as winners, they cannot wait until January or February to turn it on. If they win the games they should, this will be one heck of a fun year. Just DO THEIR JOBS, Things will be just fine!! Too optimistic, no way, we came within one quarter of knocking the lights out of GSW, and ran out of gas. This is another year, I look forward to big things