Before Donovan Mitchell was dealt from the Utah Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers, there was some reporting linking him to a number of teams that were said to be his preferred landing spots in case of a trade.
Mitchell, who’s no stranger to outside noise, seemingly reflected on that during a recent interview.
“What I noticed the year before I got traded to Cleveland — the year I got traded to Cleveland — was just, everybody’s gonna have their own opinions,” Mitchell said. “Everybody’s gonna have their own experts and sources, and I figured out my own trade destinations online. I didn’t even know, you know what I’m sayin’? So, everybody’s gonna have their stuff.”
Mitchell, adding to his point, explained that he knew during the 2023-24 season that he was going to return to the Cavs. But that didn’t stop people from suggesting that his days with Cleveland were numbered, and it wasn’t until he ultimately inked an extension with the team this offseason that the noise finally died down.
The New York Knicks were one team that was reportedly connected to Mitchell in the time leading up to his departure from the Jazz. Mitchell has ties to New York, as he was born in Elmsford, N.Y. back in September of 1996.
While it’s possible he’ll play for the Knicks at a later stage of his pro career, it was not in the cards for him to land with the team at that point in time.
The Cavaliers ended up giving the Jazz quite the haul for Mitchell. Cleveland dealt Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks and two pick swaps to Utah.
Two of the players that the Cavaliers traded in the Mitchell deal — Markkanen and Sexton — were some of Utah’s primary scoring options in the 2023-24 season.
Sexton and Markkanen are very skilled offensive players, but neither quite stack up to Mitchell from a scoring standpoint. Mitchell didn’t just lead the Cavaliers in points per game last season, but he also had one of the highest scoring averages of any player in the league.
The former University of Louisville star averaged 26.6 points per game on 46.2 percent shooting from the floor and 36.8 percent shooting from deep. Mitchell didn’t qualify for a spot among the NBA’s scoring leaders because he only played in 55 of Cleveland’s 82 games, but for perspective, Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox averaged an identical number of points per game, and he ranked among the top 10 in scoring average.
Mitchell is now in Cleveland for the long haul, and he’ll look to make the most of what his future holds with the organization.
