After reporting on The Hoop Collective (video link) earlier this week that Donovan Mitchell inquired about the Jazz‘s plan following the team’s trades of Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale, Brian Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday that the star guard is not believed to be on the verge of asking for a trade (video link).
“After the Gobert trade, there was a belief that maybe Mitchell would be next, and maybe at some point he will be,” Windhorst said. “But for now the Jazz are telling people they don’t intend to trade him, and on Mitchell’s side, he’s going to stand pat. He’s not going to force any action right now.”
Reports at the time of the Gobert trade indicated that the Jazz planned to retool their roster around Mitchell, while subsequent reporting suggested teams still believed the 25-year-old could be had for the right price. If Mitchell doesn’t express any desire to leave Utah, it seems very unlikely that the Jazz will move him this offseason.
Here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:
- Although ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski still believes a Kevin Durant trade is likely to happen, he said during an appearance on NBA Today (video link) that it’s “absolutely” possible the former MVP could end up remaining with the Nets into the fall. “Brooklyn, they don’t have to take a deal that they don’t want to do. They don’t have to talk themselves into a deal,” Wojnarowski said. “At the same time, Kevin Durant, as he looks at the situation, could he look at it differently over time? That’s certainly a possibility.” Wojnarowski explained that he believes Durant could have second thoughts about his trade request if his potential new team would have to gut its roster to trade for him.
- During an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday (video link), Windhorst said the Durant sweepstakes may not be creating the frenzy the Nets had hoped for. “When the Nets put him on the market, I think they thought there was going to be a tremendous bidding war,” Windhorst said. “And while there’s a lot of interest, from what I can tell that bidding war isn’t really hot right now. The teams have made their offers and they don’t really feel the need to increase them.”
- According to Windhorst, the return Utah received in the Gobert trade has complicated the Durant negotiations: “The Nets responded (to the Gobert trade) by saying, ‘The price for Durant just went higher,’ and the rest of the league is kind of saying, ‘We don’t think so. We don’t want to pay that price. We didn’t like that trade,'” Windhorst acknowledged that talks could heat up when team executives gather at Las Vegas for Summer League starting this week.
- John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) believes we may see action on the Deandre Ayton front before the end of the week, adding that he has heard “rumblings” about the possibility of the Pacers signing the Suns‘ restricted free agent center to an offer sheet.
I hope Indy does sign him to an offer sheet. He is worth close to the max.
If the pacers have any interest in Ayton its going to cost AT LEAST Myles Turner.
I dont think so. I think they see if PHX will match, which sounds unlikely if they offer the max.
That actually would be a really good strategy. If they can sign Ayton w/o a sign and trade they would have Miles to trade and gain additional assets. And if the Suns do match it you can explore a trade or just stand pat. That sounds like the reasonable way that the Pacers like to do business.
If PHX was going to give him the max they would have already.
If someone offers Ayton the max deal, then Phoenix will match in order to get a sign and trade.
If a team offers something less than the max, then Phoenix will simply match and keep him.
There’s no way around it.
And what if they match and no team wants to diminish themselves with an S&T. Suns are stuck with a huge overpay.
I doubt there will be a max offer bc hes not a max player. There is just a feeling that some other team will go for it.
Some team may offer to force Suns into matching!
Minnesota way overpaid for Gobert. Limited offensive bigman. Moving kat to 4 weakens the d in my opinion.
In their minds, with Gobert they’re going to be competing deeper in the playoffs. That means their regular season record will continually net them late first round picks. They don’t need more of those.
They also only gave up role players. This move consolidates their roster. Plus, they picked up Anderson as a free agent. He’s a good 2-way player. That helped make the move easier.
The rest of their roster can be filled in with free agents along the way. Their GM did a great job of doing that in Denver. They’ll be fine.
Overall, they got much better with Gobert. His screens and rimb running will help a lot of offense. The Jazz had the #1 offense last year with Gobert’s screens for shooters, etc. Gobert’s Winshare/48 is top ten all-time! His defense saved the Jazz so many games for wins. Don’t see that changing now.
It would be great to see an offer sheet (just to prove they are a possibility). I’m skeptical though. More likely IND is making these rumblings to the media to motivate PHX to put Durant aside and focus moving Ayton. If they do it, there’s little doubt that PHX will match.
Not surprised like many here and NBA GMs as well, you are not getting 25 year-old KD but twice injured, 34 year-old KD. Gobert is younger and is to defense what KD is to offense. So BKN needs to simmer down on the expectations and start planning for building around a KD/BS(?) team this year.
Send Tobias, Thybulle, and Shake and a 1st swap for Bojan, Clarkson, and Gay.
Send a 1st, 2 2nds, and Pat Bev for Myles Turner.
Turner
Tobias
Thybulle
Mitchell – Beasley
Conley
Embiid – Bball/Bassey
Tucker – Niang
Bojan – Gay – Korkmaz
Harden – Clarkson – Joe
Maxey – Melton – Springer
I think that all depends on how badly the Jazz want to go to the playoffs this year?
The Jazz FO rumors say they’re building around Donovan’s strengths. That can also mean his age. Turner and Harris are a bit older. I kinda think the Jazz want young players in any future trades.
I dont get why Indiana would sign Ayton. They have Myles Turner, and Jalen Smith, and are probably looking to flip Theis, and Buddy Hield…
Maybe as a 2nd unit scoring big, but after moving Brogdon, it’s hard to see why they would do that
As for Utah, I still think they’re retooling around Mitchell and Bogdanovic. They traded for a bunch of defenders, and still need shooting in the wings. Nit necessarily 3 and D guys. Just 2 shooters at those spots. They are probably also looking to move Conley and Clarkson, and could use a big that can defend pick and roll/protect the rim/a smallball option there after losing Paschall
They have been trying to trade Turner since the resigned him it’s like their thing same w Brogdon.
You’re not retooling with Bogdan as your 2nd best player, too old, on an expiring deal. And you could hide him on a team with Royce and Gobert defending bigs.
They have too many guards at this point need to make more trades for sure.
They traded for a bunch of defenders that can help around Bogdanovic. I’m not saying they’re building for the future with him. Just that he seems like someone that you would have as a scorer/spacer next to the guys they have
Indiana always being rumored to trade Turner was dumb, and makes even less sense now
Nets must think Durant’s mood will blow over. The returns possible will diminish over time. Enthusiasm for Durant has already died down as I said it would. Surely Marks knew this.