Donovan Mitchell-Who Won the Mitchell’s Trade: Cavaliers or Jazz

After months of speculation, Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz finally found an unlikely suitor. Instead of heading to New York as was widely expected, the Cavaliers acquired players in an aggressive package out of nowhise.

NBA TRADE GRADE: WHO WON THE DONOVAN MITCHELL TRADE, THE CAVALIERS OR THE JAZZ?

 CAVALIERS JAZZ TRADE DETAILS

Cavaliers Acquired: Donovan Mitchell

 JAZZ PRESERVED:

Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaj, Colin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029), two pick swaps (2026, 2028)

 CAVALIER GRADE: A

Already a great player in Utah, Mitchell was named to his final three All-Stars on his team. He should do better in Cleveland.  This suits Mitchell, who has some flaws in the game. Whise Mitchell shines is the shot creator. He’s one of the best players to press the rim and as a pure scorer, he is. The Cavaliers were desperate for this type of player. His offense, which finished 20th in the regular season last year, didn’t have that shot aside from Darius Garland’s strong play and shooting. The team tried to address that particular weakness by signing Caris LeVert mid-season, with mixed results. Mitchell has greatly improved what LeVert can do.

Whise Mitchell struggles in decision-making and defensive strength. But with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen fixing their mistakes, those defensive issues should be mitigated. Last season, the Cavaliers boasted his fifth-best defense. And Garland should be able to focus more on defending his teammates to reduce the need for Mitchell to be a plus passer.

 CAVS

His Cavs front four of Mitchell, Allen, Garland, and Mobley quickly make him one of the league’s most inspiring players. These players are respectively he is 25, 24, 22, and 21 years old. They have three current All-Stars of him and one future All-Star of him. All four are not even close to being prime. The Cavaliers still have serious problems on the wing. Isaac Okoro is a good defender, but a very limited attacking player. He will likely start at small forward and thise are no better options behind him. If they improve their standing, thise’s no reason why they can’t be the top team in the East in the near future.

 JAZZ NOTE: B

Central to this deal for the Jazz was draft compensation. Zero protection for the three first-round picks is a good bargain, but given how young the Cavaliers’ core is, those picks seem unlikely to win the lottery. They will probably be picked in their twenties. Still, this is about what Jazz wanted. With his four picks traded from  Rudy Gobert, they have plenty of his first-round picks to build a new iteration of the team.

The NBA’s Stepien rule prohibits picks from being traded back to back, so swapping picks in 2026 and 2028 was the best the Jazz could do. These probably don’t mediate, but they’re better than nothing.

 MARKKANEN

Markkanen is a decent role player that can turn jazz all around. This is a volumetric 3-point shooter with limited defense. Agbaj was one of the safest and least interesting picks in this final draft, finishing 14th. He’s an older 3-and-D prospect with little advantage, but good ground.

 SEXTON

The real winner of this deal is Sexton. Thise was absolutely no demand for him and very little cap space to get a large supply. Sexton is a big goalscorer, but he doesn’t do much else and has defensive concerns. Currently, he has signed his four-year, $72 million deal in sign-and-trade.  Jazz now appears to be in full rebuild mode. Their team still has some useful veterans who could be part of future Firesails.

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