The Utah Jazz lock in Donovan Mitchell with rookie max extension

The Utah Jazz addressed this seasons’ free agency needs early on this offseason. They have looked after their future with Donovan Mitchell signing on again.

The Utah Jazz made some very smart moves in free agency. They traded Tony Bradley and Ed Davis so they could sign Jordan Clarkson and Derrick Favors. Then they turned their attention to the future by signing Donovan Mitchell to a rookie max deal.

In his three years with the franchise so far, Mitchell has been incredible. He has averaged 22.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.0 steals in 33.8 minutes per game. Not a bad return for a late-lottery pick.

Mitchell was picked up in a draft-night trade with the Denver Nuggets. What is even better is it only cost the Jazz Tyler Lydon and Trey Lyles. The scary thing for the competition is that Mitchell showed us that he has not reached his ceiling yet in the first-round matchup against the Nuggets.

The breakdown of the deal for the Utah Jazz

According to Bobby Marks of ESPN, the deal is for $163.0 million over five years. It takes effect next season, replacing the fourth year of his rookie-scale contract. However, he has the opportunity in the 2020-21 season to increase this value.

If Mitchell makes an All-NBA team next season the deal goes from $163.0 million to 195.6 million over the five years. This is a huge incentive for Mitchell to lift his play so that he is named to one of the teams.

If he can continue the play he showed in the series against the Nuggets, then this will not be a problem for the one-time All-Star. In the series, Donovan averaged 36.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.0 steals in 37.7 minutes per game

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Donovan has been remarkably consistent with his shot attempts in the playoffs that he has played in. In 2017-18 he took 22.1 shot attempts per game, making 42.1 percent of them. Then in the 2018-19 playoffs, he took 22.4 shot attempts, making 32.1 percent of them.

In the playoffs just gone, Mitchell took 22.4 shot attempts per game. He made an incredible 52.9 percent of them. It was not as though Donovan was just attacking the hoop. He made 51.6 percent of his 9.1 attempts from deep.

What is amazing to think that this could be where Mitchell is able to elevate his game on a regular basis. Yes, the Jazz lost the series but Mitchell balled out. If he can take this confidence into the  2020-21 regular season, then the Jazz are in a great position.

Where this deal is brilliant is that Mitchell is still only 24 years old. He still has development and growth in his game. Add to this the deal starts out at $28.1 million for next season. This means the Jazz have the option of offering Gobert a max deal to keep him or signing another free agent.

The other benefit of this deal is that the Jazz have Donovan Mitchell tied up for five years and Bojan Bogdanovic signed for another three. While these two players are on the roster, the Utah Jazz are going to be relevant. Mitchell will be 29 at the end of this deal meaning the Jazz might be able to make him a one-team player.