Could the Utah Jazz trade Donovan Mitchell as early as this week?

The Utah Jazz have been reportedly willing to move their second All Star of the off-season over the past week or two, and according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, a deal between Utah and the New York Knicks could come as early as this week. The two sides have been speaking over the past few days, and with the most picks at their disposal, analysts like Windhorst have called a deal that sends Spida to his hometown Knicks ‘inevitable’, and at this point, it seems like no matter what deal gets done, the Knicks are certainly by far the favourites.

For Jazz fans looking to get a player the caliber of R.J Barrett in return, this news comes with the caveat that Utah would likely be getting “5 first-round draft picks and a few ‘non R.J’ young players”, but it’s still a better deal than any other team can offer Utah. Combined with the likes of Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley and a few other names on this squad, a likely group of Miles McBride, Quentin Grimes, Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier gives them plenty of talent for the future, as well as the 5 first-round picks which will give Utah a historic haul of picks acquired in one singular off-season.

At this point, the Jazz are guaranteed to go into a full-on rebuild, and knowing Danny Ainge the way that fans and insiders do, he is going to try focus on a big haul of picks, rather than players, but if he can get both from the Knicks, Utah could be in the perfect position to quickly retool over the next two years, or patiently rebuild over the next 4-5 seasons, but either way, 2022/23 may get ugly. Victor Wenbanyama is on the horizon for whichever team can land the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, and if the Jazz can do this, all the pain of trading away two All-Stars this off-season immediately becomes worth it.