It appears the other trade saga not dealing with Kevin Durant has finally drawn to a conclusion.
According to reporting from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Donovan Mitchell is heading to Cleveland.
Cleveland gets:
- Donovan Mitchell
Utah receives
- Lauri Markkanen
- Colin Sexton ( sign and trade)
- Ochai Agbaji
- three unprotected first round draft picks ( 2025, 2027 and 2029)
- pick swaps in 2026 and 2028
Wojnarowski adds that Sexton agreed to a sign-and-trade to join the Jazz.
By trading Mitchell, the official start of the rebuild in Salt Lake City, having traded away Rudy Gobert earlier this summer. In Markkanen, the Jazz now have a young , very talented but frustratingly inconsistent 7-footer who can sttetch the floor with his shooting ability. Markkanen averaged 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists on .445/.358/.868 splits. A torn meniscus in his left knee limited Sexton to just 11 games last season, which paved the way for the ascension of Darius Garland. In Sexton, they have a young guard who score , which the Jazz will need, as he averaged 24.3 points ppg in the 2020-21 season. With Sexton, two trends the Jazz, and their fans, should be cognisant of- his games played and his three-point shooting percentage both of which have fallen every year since his rookie campaign. After starting and playing all 82 games in 2018-19, Sexton has played in 65, 60 and 11 games the three subsequent season. The 40% he shot from downtown has been proceeded by percentages from distance of 38%, 37% and 24% in his injury shortened 2021-22 season.
Ochai Agbaji , 22, was the 14th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. Agbaji is a throwback player in that he stayed in school all four years, improved each year culminating into an nba-ready player by his senior season. Speaking of that senior season it was quite a year for Agbaji; he averaged 18.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, was unanimously mously named Big 12 Player if the Year and helped Kansas win the national championship. He brings a shooting touch( he shot 40.7 percent from three his senior season ) is a solid defender and is athletic, meaning he has all the attributes be to one of those “3 and D” players the Association has been in love with over recent years.
