Many people thought that when the Utah Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2022, the Cavs would eventually be unable to re-sign him and Mitchell would explore his future in free agency. Due to a series of moves and the decline of prospected teams, the squads in which Mitchell would have liked to go are either filled with players similar in style to him or are on the decline.
So re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers has become a possibility. A genuine and realistic possibility. There's a good chance that some combination of Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and or Darius Garland get traded to reshuffle the roster around Mitchell, but the idea is that he's likely to stick around for the long term.
Especially if the Cavs keep pushing deeper and deeper into the playoffs. This was unexpected, the idea that Mitchell would re-sign was not one that many thought was likely if possible. Yet, here we are. Due to this possibility, however, many are worrying about how that would impact the trade with the Jazz. After all, the idea was that the Jazz would get a lot of good picks from the Cavs after the 2025 season when they were most likely to trade him.
That would, in theory, lead to the Cavs falling apart, being a bad team, and the Jazz reaping those rewards. I never thought that, as even without Mitchell Cleveland is still a Play-In team as is. So at best, you were looking at picks in the 20s.
Yet, that doesn't mean just because Mitchell may stay that the trade is all of a sudden a bad one or those picks won't become very valuable, despite the growing concern.
The Utah Jazz received the 2025, 2027, and 2029 NBA Draft picks from the Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as the right to swap picks with the Cavs in 2026 and 2028. The original idea was that the Cavs would start falling apart in 2026 and the Jazz would be able to swap picks, possibly moving up in the draft to do so.
Now, the Cavs may be good throughout 2029. That doesn't mean the Jazz lost out, however. They still will have a lot of picks between 2025 and 2029. This means in the event the Jazz are bed, they'll be able to add more youth to their roster to build out and hopefully get better. If they're good, this will give the Jazz plenty of opportunities to add low-cost upgrades to their roster.
And none of this factors in the idea that the Cavs could still be bad with Mitchell as their centerpiece. If they make some big moves, there's no telling how the team will react with regard to their chemistry. They may play better together, or worse. Not only that but the change in head coaching may not be the move they hoped it was and the team could regress.
It's way too early to worry about how these picks turn out. So don't.