The Jazz are reportedly listening to Donovan Mitchell trade offers. With those talks occurring, there’s opportunity for another leak:
What does Utah want for the star guard?
That bodes well for the Knicks, who were most strongly connected to Mitchell, anyway. New York has all its own first-round picks plus extras from the Wizards, Pistons, Mavericks and Bucks.
Other teams with extra first-rounders: Thunder, Rockets, Pelicans, Pacers, Spurs, Grizzlies. Maybe New Orleans or Memphis would pursue Mitchell. The rest of those teams seem too far from winning to push their chips in for Mitchell.
Of course, other teams could turn this into a multi-team trade to land Mitchell, sending out valuable players and routing Utah its desired picks with the valuable players landing elsewhere. There are plenty of places Mitchell would make sense.
After the Jazz traded Rudy Gobert for a picks-heavy package, it’d make sense for them to fully embrace rebuilding. Danny Ainge loaded up on picks then built the core of a Celtics team that could contend for championships for years. He might be pursuing a similar model in Utah.
