With Kevin Durant waving the white flag in Brooklyn, the Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes are heating up over in Utah, where the Jazz are hoping to force the Knicks into making a desperate offer.
Apparently, the Cleveland Cavaliers have also joined the race for Mitchell and may have enough assets to pull it off.
In a recent article, SNY’s Ian Begley provided the latest details:
The Knicks are among several teams with interest in trading for Mitchell. The Cavs touched base with Utah about a Mitchell trade in recent days, per SNY sources. Cleveland’s level of interest in Mitchell is unknown but the Cavs have the young players and picks to put together a competitive package.
The question now is, can the Cavs outbid the Knicks? With these teams seemingly in the lead for Mitch, there is a sense that they are competing against each other in trade talks with Utah.
If the Knicks don’t trade for Mitchell, what is the next opportunity to add a young All-Star to the roster? Will it be a better opportunity than the one in front of them?
Some with the organization believe the best approach is to wait until the season starts and then re-visit a Mitchell deal.
The thinking is that Utah’s leverage will decrease during the season.
But that approach also gives other teams – a team like the Cavs, whom
John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Phoenix first mentioned as being interested in Mitchell – the chance to increase their offer and outbid New York.
So there’s a risk involved in waiting.
With Mitchell, the Cavs would have the best young core in the league — by far. The combined powers of him and Garland and Jarrett Allen might just be enough to snag a top-four seed in the East.
If not, it would certainly set up the Cavs to be competitive for years to come. At this time, though, we will just have to wait and see how everything plays out.
