The Cleveland Cavaliers became the talk of the NBA recently when they completed a massive trade to acquire star guard Donovan Mitchell.
Though the acquisition of Mitchell has been celebrated across the league with many experts now placing the Cavs amongst the elite teams in the league, there is no question that Koby Altman and the rest of the team’s front office had to sacrifice a lot to get him.
The Cavs gave up three future first-round picks, two pick swaps and a slew of talented players, including Collin Sexton.
Utah Jazz general manager Justin Zanik recently commented on the deal and admitted that the Cavs “certainly gave up a lot” to get the former Jazz star. He added that the Cavs including Sexton was a requirement to get the deal done.
Zanik said it was requirement that Sexton was in the trade.
“If we were going to make a deal then he needed to be in that deal.” https://t.co/9QiEhjNlix
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) September 12, 2022
Aside from Sexton, the Cavs also gave up talented big man Lauri Markkanen and rookie Ochai Agbaji. Though Markkanen is a great piece and Agbaji is a fabulous building block for the rebuilding Jazz, it makes sense why Sexton is considered the jewel of the haul.
In the best-case scenario for the Jazz, Sexton could end up essentially replacing Mitchell’s production on the roster. Though Sexton missed the majority of the 2021-22 season due to injury, he showed the potential of a premier scorer the season before.
In the 2020-21 campaign, he averaged 24.3 points per game, just 1.6 less points per game than Mitchell averaged in the 2021-22 campaign.
Even though the Cavs gave up a lot to land Mitchell, they likely consider themselves the winner of the deal because they were able to get the three-time All-Star without giving up any of the most important players on their roster.
Mitchell reportedly leaped for joy when he learned that the Cavs completed the deal without having to move Darius Garland, Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen. After all, Allen and Garland are All-Stars, and Mobley seems destined to become the face of the franchise thanks to his freakish combination of size and skill.
Now, it’s up to those four players and the rest of the Cavs roster to make sure that all the front office’s hard work this summer results in a deep playoff run at the end of the season.
