The Donovan Mitchell trade saga has been dragging on for what feels like months now, and as more teams seemingly pull out of the race, it looks like there’s potentially only one conclusion remaining for the Utah Jazz. While that may or may not be the case, there’s been reports that Danny Ainge is content with holding Mitchell well into the season, but today, NBA Insider Brian Windhorst told a different tale.
On the latest episode of his podcast, Windhorst had this to say about a potential Spida deal: “MacMahon, you said I believe last week that you thought that the Jazz would make a Donovan Mitchell trade before the opener,” Windhorst said. “And it sounds to me in talking to people around the league that the Jazz want to try to go even sooner than that. They want to go before training camp.”
Given what we saw last time when Windhorst said ‘something is up in Utah’, as the very next day the Jazz ended up moving Rudy Gobert, it seems that the ESPN NBA insider has great knowledge of the situation, and its potential pending conclusion. At this point, if they were to move him before camp, the logical conclusion will be a deal with the New York Knicks, who have more first round picks than anyone to offer, and unless a crazy three or four team deal arises, this may be what ends up happening.
As for the updated time frame, Windhorst believes there’s a reason for that: “It does sound as I talk to folks in the league that the Jazz are trying to apply the gas here,” Windhorst continued. “To try to juice the offer, especially juice the offer from the New York Knicks.”
Ultimately, it looks like Donovan Mitchell’s days in Utah are numbered, and whether he’s dealt to the Knicks or a mystery team, it appears that a move will be happening in the coming weeks.