How the Donovon Mitchell trade impacts the Isaac Okoro and Walker Kessler

Some former Auburn Tigers were impacted by the NBA's big trade.

The NBA was blown away earlier this week when the Utah Jazz sent All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland in a blockbuster trade. 

The full trade details include Mitchell going to the Cavs for Lauri Markanen, Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks, and two first-round pick swaps to the Utah Jazz. With Walker Kessler currently on the Utah Jazz and Isaac Okoro currently on the Cleveland Cavaliers, how could the former Auburn tigers be impacted by this trade? 

How does this impact Walker Kessler? 

The Utah Jazz have completely gone into rebuild mode. They turned their two all-stars in Mitchell and Rudy Gobert into many first-round picks and a really good young core of players including Kessler. Kessler now has a chance to be one of the centerpieces of this rebuild.

Utah has two current centers contracted for 2022-23 outside of Kessler, Udoka Azubuike and Hassan Whiteside. Since Gobert was the primary starting center and one of the top focuses for the Jazz for the past few years, Utah is going to need someone to fill that hole and any of these three centers have that chance.

Kessler has the opportunity to shine very early on in his NBA career. The Jazz have great young pieces and trade assets in the coming years for him to fill in Gobert’s shoes as one of the top defensive centers in the NBA.

Early Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Mike Conley

SG: Collin Sexton

SF: Bojan Bogdanovic

PF: Lauri Markkanen

C: Walker Kessler 

How does this impact Isaac Okoro? 

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a completely different position than the Jazz, the Cavs who have not been back to the playoffs since the finals streak with Lebron James, are primed and ready to compete with the top teams in the eastern conference. Okoro, who has been a major part of the past few seasons for Cleveland, has a chance to change and improve on his role. Cleveland went out and got exactly the kind of offensive weapons they needed in Mitchell to put them in a position to make a run these next few years.

Cleveland has a great young core of players as well like Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Okoro. The former Auburn tiger and number five overall pick in 2020 has been outstanding for the Cavs. Okoro averaged 8.8 points and three rebounds last season but his offensive stats don’t show his true value to the team. Okoro’s defensive value is unmatched and he has a chance to mold into that role even more has even more of the offensive load is taken off of him with Mitchell joining.

The Cavs still have a ton of guards and small forwards with guys like Okoro, Mitchell, Garland, Caris LeVert, Rajon Rondo, and Ricky Rubio. So, Okoro’s path to playing time won't come easy. His offensive stats might drop but there will be no doubt that Okoro still brings an invaluable defensive presence that will be hard to keep on the bench.

Early Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Darius Garland

SG: Donovan Mitchell

SF: Isaac Okoro

PF: Evan Mobley

C: Jarrett Allen 

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