After it was reported yesterday that the Utah Jazz are looking for possible trades to send Donovan Mitchell to a new team, everyone was buzzing about another star being on the move this offseason. The interest for Mitchell had already been narrowed down to either New York or Miami over rumors and it seems New York might be moving a little faster.
Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that the Knicks have emerged as a ‘focused destination’ for the Jazz over the last few days and a deal framework has already been discussed by the two teams for Mitchell,
Donovan Mitchell is a native New Yorker that many expected to be drafted to the Knicks in 2017 but the front office chose Frank Ntilikina instead, who was on the Dallas Mavericks team this season that beat Utah in the Playoffs and forced them into this rebuild.
The Jazz and Knicks have started discussions on a Donovan Mitchell trade, sources tell me and @Tjonesonthenba. New York has Utah’s focus currently, among interested teams.
Story at @TheAthletic: https://t.co/KBf4Rnakrd
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 14, 2022
The Jazz are having conversations with multiple teams on a Mitchell deal, but the Knicks have emerged as the focused destination over the past several days, sources said. Both sides have discussed a deal framework in the past 24 hours, those sources said.
The Knicks possess eight future first-round picks — four of their own and four acquired via trades from other teams — to use in a package. New York has also stockpiled young players, such as Quentin Grimes who is believed to be of interest to Utah, sources said. (h/t Shams Charania – The Athletic)
With Rudy Gobert already moved, it make sense for the Jazz to bottom out and try to rebuild the franchise from scratch, maybe eyeing the Draft lottery to get a player like Victor Wembanyama for their future.
The Jazz will get a lot of solid things back from New York in terms of the picks they have (NY has 5 picks in the 2023 Draft) and young players like Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, Obi Toppin, and others. This trade might be materializing sooner than other rumored trades around the league, so it is one to keep an eye on.
