Instant grades for the Donovan Mitchell mega-trade between Cleveland & Utah
By Dylan Carter
Utah embraces a new era by trading homegrown All-Star Donovan Mitchell
It takes guts to trade off two All-Star players within a few months, but Utah executive Ainge has a proven history of making tough decisions for the betterment of his organization. Adding three promising young players and control of five draft picks puts the Utah Jazz in an unfamiliar position. This is the most flexibility the franchise has maintained since the end of the Stockton/Malone era.
Injuries stole the 2021-22 season from Sexton, who struggled with an undefined role through the little time he did spend on the court. However, the consensus has gone too far on the 23-year-old combo guard, whose wealth of scoring capabilities and blistering on-ball defense make him an excellent player to go to war with. This should be a phenomenal opportunity for him to remind the basketball world what he’s really about.
Markkanen, who now enters a featured offensive role, is in a position to showcase the full extent of his abilities. Things never quite panned out in Chicago and his role was more confined in Cleveland, so we’ll learn a lot about him as a player with this newfound freedom.
Adding such a wealth of young talent and draft picks is more than any team could ask from an undersized guard. Respect to Donovan Mitchell, whose burst, shot creation and range are hard to come by. He’s a bonafide All-Star on the biggest stage in pro basketball and is probably the best player on a Cavs team with two All-Stars already (plus another on the way in Evan Mobley).
Still, it’s hard to win at the highest level when your best player is a guard. By resetting the clock, stacking up on solid player investments and dominating draft capital, the Jazz are in complete control of their future. That’s hard to do as a small-market NBA team.