The Cavaliers have agreed to a trade with the Jazz and will acquire star guard Donovan Mitchell, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski ( Twitter link ).
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter ), Cleveland is sending three unprotected first-round picks and two trade picks to Utah as part of the deal. Lauri Markkanen, first-round pick Ochai Agbaji and Collin Sexton are also headed to the Jazz in the blockbuster trade, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports ( Twitter link ).
Sexton is a restricted free agent, so he will have to be signed and traded as part of the deal. His new deal with the Jazz will be worth $72 million over four years and fully guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic ( Twitter links ).
The three first-round picks going to Utah will be in 2025, 2027 and 2029, as Cleveland already owes its 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick to Indiana, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets . The Jazz will have the ability to trade picks with the Cavs in 2026 and 2028, Wojnarowski tweets.
Arizona Sports 98.7’s John Gambadoro first identified the Cavaliers last week as a team with interest in Mitchell, and SNY.tv’s Ian Begley later reported that Cleveland had “touched base” with Utah about the three-time All-Star.
Still, today’s news is a big surprise. Begley reported last Friday that the Cavs were walking away from negotiations for Mitchell, while ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Cleveland had made it clear to the Jazz in their earlier discussions that Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were not on the table. That seemed to make it difficult for the Cavs to meet Utah’s asking price.
However, the Cavs’ package will include most of the other notable assets at their disposal, including all of their tradeable first-round picks, this year’s No. 14 overall pick (Agbaji) and Sexton, who has just one year remaining off the average of 24.3. PPG and 4.4 APG on .475/.371/.815 shooting in 60 games (35.3 MPG).
With a core of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and Allen, the Cavs will be led by a pair of all-star duos: an offensive-minded pair in the backcourt and a rim-protecting duo in the frontcourt.
All of these key players will be under contract for several years. Garland signed a new five-year extension this offseason, Mobley’s rookie deal runs through 2025, Allen is in the second year of a five-year deal and Mitchell is locked in at least through 2024-25 (has player option). for 25/26).
The Knicks had long been seen as the favorite for Mitchell, but were never willing to offer more than two unprotected first-round picks (plus other protected first-rounders), according to Bleacher’s Jake Fischer Report (Twitter link). Unprotected first-round picks and trades had been the most coveted trade chips for Danny Ainge and the Jazz, as was the case when they acquired a similar performance in exchange for Rudy Gobert earlier this summer.
The Knicks and Jazz reportedly reached an impasse earlier this week when the Knicks set an informal Monday night deadline to accept a trade for Mitchell or extend RJ Barrett, who was being discussed as a possible centerpiece in various permutations of a deal with Mitchell. New York ultimately decided to sign Barrett to an extension, complicating the salary match in a potential trade due to the poison pill provision and temporarily halting those trade talks.
While the Knicks and Jazz were expected to get involved again in the coming weeks, their impasse opened the door for Cavs general manager Koby Altman to return to Utah general manager Justin Zanik, according to Wojnarowski, who says (via Twitter) that the two teams “worked out” a deal they had been discussing in previous weeks.
More to come…