There was an interesting deal in the National Basketball Association on Thursday. The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired their biggest superstar since having LeBron James in the lineup on a regular basis in 2017-18. In a trade of monumental proportions with the Jazz, the Cavaliers picked up three-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell of Elmsford, New York, while Utah acquired Collin Sexton of Marietta, Georgia, forward Lauri Markkanen of Vantaa, Finland, guard Ochai Agbaji of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and several draft picks according to nba.com. The Jazz will receive the Cavaliers’s first round pick in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The Jazz will also have an option for a pick swap in 2026 and 2028.
Mitchell has been an All-Star over the last three years. In 2022, he averaged 25.9 points per game, 5.3 assists per game, 4.2 rebounds per game, 1.5 steals per game, a field goal percentage of .448, three-point percentage of .355, and a free throw percentage of .853.
Mitchell has had some of his finest performances in the playoffs. He had 57 points and 51 points in two separate games for the Jazz against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
it had been widely speculated that Mitchell would be traded for over a month. In July, Joel Beatton of the Sporting Base discussed what a possible Donovan Mitchell trade would look like, but thought the New York Knicks would be the Jazz’s most likely trade partner.
Markkanen will be joining his third NBA team after four seasons with the Chicago Bulls and one season with the Cavaliers. In 2021-22 with Cleveland, he averaged 14.8 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, a field goal percentage of .445, three-point percentage of .358, and a free-throw percentage of .868.
Sexton only played 11 games last season because of a torn left meniscus against the Knicks. He averaged 16 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game, a field goal percentage of .450, three point percentage of .244, and a free throw percentage of .744. Agbaji was the Cavaliers’s first round pick, 14th overall, in the 2022 NBA Draft.
For FREE!
