After months of speculation, Donovan Mitchell and Jazz have finally found an unlikely competitor. Instead of going to New York as planned, the riders came out of nowhere with an aggressive package to pick up their husband.
Mitchell was already a great player in Utah, nominated to the last three all-star teams. It should be even better in Cleveland.
This is the perfect solution for Mitchell, who has some flaws in his game. Where Mitchell shines is as a planner. He is one of the best at putting pressure on the rim and as a pure scorer.
The Cavs desperately needed such a player. Their offense, which finished 20th in the regular season last year, was free of that punch, except for Darius Garland’s solid game structure and shots. The team tried to remedy this specific weakness by replacing Caris LeVert mid-season with mixed results. Mitchell is a big improvement over what LeVert can do.
Where Mitchell struggles is with decision-making and defensive intensity. But with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen correcting mistakes, these defensive problems should be alleviated. The Cavs had the n° 5 defense last season because of the dominance of these two. and Garland should be able to focus more on training his teammates, which would alleviate Mitchell’s need to be a pass rusher.
The top four for the Cavs of Mitchell, Allen, Garland and Mobley are immediately among the most electrifying in the League. These players are 25, 24, 22 and 21 years old. You have three current stars and one future star. All four of them are not even close to reaching their prime numbers.
The Cavs still have serious problems on the wing. Isaac Okoro is a good defender, but a very limited rude player. It will probably start with a small forward, and there are not many better options behind him. Once you’ve improved that Position, there’s no reason why you can’t be a top team in the east for the foreseeable future.
At the heart of this agreement for Jazz was the compensation project.
Not getting protection on three picks in the first round is a nice negotiation, but the chances of those picks falling into the lottery seem slim considering how young the Cavs core is. You’ll probably be making decisions in your twenties, but this is about as good as Jazz hoped it would be. With four tips from Rudy Gobert’s exchange, you have a ton of first-round tips for building your team’s new iteration.
The NBA’s Stepien Rule prevents decisions from being traded in consecutive years, so it was better for Jazz to make decisions in 2026 and 2028. It is unlikely that these will be transferred, but it is better than nothing.
Markkanen is a decent role player that maybe Jazz can get back on track. He’s a good 3-point shooter who has defensive limitations. Agbaji was one of the safest and most uninteresting decisions made in this last project, on the 14th. It is an older 3 and D prospectus with few advantages but a good plot.
The real winner of this business is sacristan. There was absolutely no demand for him, and there was very little ceiling space left to get a large offer. Sacristan is a great scorer, but he doesn’t do much else and has some concerns defensively. Now he has a 4-year, million contract as part of a signing and trade.
The Jazz now seems to be in full reconstruction mode. You still have a few useful veterans on your team who could be part of a future fire sale.
