Jazz Trade Donovan Mitchell to Cavaliers: Report

The Utah Jazz bit the bullet in a second blockbuster trade this summer. The Donovan Mitchell era is over.

NBA ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski has reported the Utah Jazz have traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks, and two pick swaps.

The three unprotected picks Utah nets will be 2025, 2027, and 2029, while the pick swaps will come in 2026 and 2028, per ESPN.

Full trade: Utah is trading Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland for Lauri Markkanen, Ochair Agbaji, Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 1, 2022

The blockbuster trade comes as a complete shock as most insiders felt that the New York Knicks were a heavy favorite to acquire Mitchell, but the Cavaliers came in at the 11th hour and outbid the Knicks for the three-time All-Star.

The Jazz are officially in full tank mode and are on a path to getting a lottery pick in what’s projected to be a loaded 2023 NBA draft class.

The trade of Mitchell also raises questions of where Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Jordan Clarkson will be playing in 2022-23. This trio of current Jazzmen will most certainly be shopped around the league with less than two months until the regular season starts.

What the Jazz were able to extract from the Cavaliers will certainly be considered a haul, but one has to wonder: what were the Knicks thinking? Was New York sleeping at the wheel, or did the re-signing of RJ Barrett earlier this week seal their fate?

Either way, the Cavaliers now have team control over Mitchell until 2025, and they’re playing for keeps as he'll be joining a team that already has two All-Stars on the roster in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

Stay locked in on the Frozen Rope with more analysis as more details become available. 

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Follow Patrick on Twitter @pbyrnesNBA.

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