Utah Jazz fielding offers for star guard Donovan Mitchell

The Utah Jazz are now willing to listen to trade offers for their star guard, Donovan Mitchell. Just weeks after trading all-star center Rudy Gobert, the Jazz are now looking to trade their other all all-star. This has always been Danny Ainge’s plan when he became the general manager for the Jazz and he did the same thing with the Boston Celtics in his previous job. Essentially, if he doesn’t think his team will win the NBA Finals, he will blow it all up and not settle for some playoff runs.

At this point, it’s clear Ainge doesn’t think the Jazz are a championship caliber team. Because of that, Mitchell is expendable. It will cost a lot to secure his services, however, as the Jazz are in no rush to trade him. Mitchell is a 25 year old scorer who has averaged 23.9 points per game during his five year stint in Utah. He established himself as a great offensive player who is fearless when attacking the rim. That being said, his defensive ability has been panned over the past couple of seasons and it looks like that may be hindering his value on the open market.

Still though, Mitchell will fetch a lot of assets on the trade market and he is a great piece for a competing team. If he joins a good team, he will raise the profile of that team and give them a great offensive option. Mitchell is also already under a long term contract that will pay him $134.9 million over the next four years.

It felt inevitable this news would break after the Gobert trade as a team with only Donovan Mitchell would likely struggle to make the playoffs. Mitchell is much more valuable to a contending team that is a piece away from the Tier A of NBA teams.

Right now, the Jazz are still the favorites to have Mitchell on their team next season and that makes sense. They are in no rush to trade Mitchell and Ainge notoriously likes to wait for a huge offer from a desperate team rather than dealing him for fair value right away. At -125, though, we do not recommend betting on the Jazz to retain Mitchell’s services.

A team that is interesting is Mitchell joining the Miami Heat at +400. They have the assets to make a big deal and are a competing team, as they were one win away from making the NBA Finals last year. Mitchell would fit in very well and instantly make the Heat one of the best teams in the NBA. At +400 with the top betting sites, it could be worth a shot.

Next up is the New York Knicks at +475 and while they aren’t a competing team, the Knicks are always looking to make a splash. They definitely have the assets to entice the Jazz but probably won’t throw everything at them in the offseason. If the Knicks were going to meet the Jazz’s price point, it would happen during the season and that makes betting on the Knicks not worth it.

The last team with odds to land Mitchell, is the NBA finalist Boston Celtics at +750. Ultimately, we don’t see this happening considering Ainge’s ties with Boston. The Celts know how good he is as a GM and do not want to fall into one of his traps. While Mitchell would help the Celtics, we find it unlikely that Boston would trade someone from their core that just lost in the Finals. And one of the guys would likely be a prerequisite in order to land Mitchell.

This is a developing story that will shake up the landscape of the NBA. Mitchell is an all-star level player who is enticing a lot of teams. Of course, Utah will want a lot for him and that may be the hold up when it comes to this trade. It may not happen this offseason, but Mitchell has one foot out of the door and it’s going to be something to watch over the coming months. The NBA offseason is proving the NBA never sleeps and this is just another story that adds more intrigue for the next season.

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