With Donovan Mitchell Available, Should Magic Make Trade?

The Utah Jazz are listening to trade offers for the two-time All-Star.

Jeremy Brener | Jul 13, 2022

With Donovan Mitchell Available, Should Magic Make Trade? /

ORLANDO - With news coming out that the Utah Jazz are open to trading Donovan Mitchell, many teams around the league will give them a call in the coming days. One of those teams should be the Orlando Magic.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the team traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It cost the Wolves a king's ransom to acquire Gobert ... Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, and four first-round picks (and a pick swap) to Utah.

With a roster full of young talent, along with several picks in upcoming drafts, the Magic possess a ton of trade assets that could entice Utah to make a deal.

Mitchell signed a four-year, $135 million dollar contract extension last off-season and is due roughly $30 million this season.

While the Magic have the cap space to take on Mitchell’s contract alone, they’d likely construct a package to stay at their current cap level.

This deal could include the likes of Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr. who are owed $17 and $14 million respectively, along with a younger player such as Cole Anthony or Jalen Suggs. With the draft picks thrown in, the deal looks like this:

fanspo-nba-trade-machine-snap_7-2-2022_10-59-16AM

The Magic give up two picks that belong to other teams and only give up two of their own picks that don't convey until 5+ years from now.

Then, the starting lineup would look like ...

Markelle Fultz, Donovan Mitchell, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Mo Bamba

Coming off the bench ...

Cole Anthony, RJ Hampton, Gary Harris, Chuma Okeke, Mo Wagner

It's a steep price, but one that's worth it for Mitchell.

A two-time All-Star over his first five seasons, Mitchell has proven to be one of the most prolific scorers in the league posting career averages of 23.9 points, while shooting 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc.

Not only is he a juggernaut on the offensive side of the ball, Mitchell would provide veteran leadership, along with a track record of playing unbelievable basketball in the playoffs.

Published Jul 13, 2022

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.