3 potential landing spots if Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell requests a trade
Utah Jazz star lands in the City of Brotherly Love
In case (somehow) you haven’t heard, Ben Simmons is on the trade block. In fact, his disconnect with the 76ers organization runs so deeply that he won’t even don their uniform anymore.
Trading him has proven a difficult proposition for General Manager Daryl Morey. More directly, trading him for a package that satisfies his lofty ambitions has proven difficult. Morey has been quite clear that he won’t accept anything less than an All-Star caliber player for Simmons’ services.
He hasn’t found one yet. Simmons is one of the league’s more complicated players in terms of on-court impact. He’s an All-World defender with elite court vision, but his absolute unwillingness to shoot three-pointers makes him a questionable lead ball-handler in the modern NBA.
There are some elite NBA players whose names are perpetually in the NBA’s trade rumor mill. Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and Jaylen Brown all come to mind as targets that Morey would undoubtedly deem acceptable. However, their respective teams may find themselves preferring a complete tear down in the event of a trade request from one of those stars. Teams like the Golden State Warriors or New York Knicks would be in a better position to offer them some combination of young players and draft picks.
On the other hand, a Mitchell-for-Simmons swap could be intriguing if Mitchell did request a trade from the Utah Jazz.
While fitting Simmons and Gobert together may be a challenge, Quin Snyder is a master technician. With the two surrounded by Utah’s plethora of floor spacers, they may come to an acceptable arrangement.
On the other hand: good lord, the defense.
The combination of Simmons’ defensive versatility and Gobert’s rim protection wouldn’t just be strong. It would be, possibly, the most devastating defensive pairing in NBA history. Surely, Utah Jazz fans prefer Mitchell and Gobert’s offense/defense dynamic. If Donovan Mitchell were to request a trade, however, this might be an experiment worth running.