Should the Cleveland Cavaliers get into the Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached out to the Utah Jazz about Donovan Mitchell

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a bit of a holding pattern. They have to make decisions on Caris LeVert and Collin Sexton, as both men are in the last years of their respective contracts. They have a young core of guys who are All-Stars and a rising prospect in Evan Mobley. So it’s not surprising that they’ve made contact with the Utah Jazz with regard to Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell is a young, dynamic guard, who isn’t the most defensively sound or the most efficient scorer but has the ability to lift a team’s offense as the second scorer. He’s an All-Star guard but he may not be an MVP candidate.

Despite that, the Cavs seemingly reached out to the Jazz to talk about the guard. Now that Kevin Durant is off the market, all eyes are on Utah to see if they can find a trade for their guard. The Durant sweepstakes didn’t go anywhere because no one was willing to pay the price for him but it appears that a few times are at least willing to listen to the Jazz with regards to Mitchell.

The New York Knicks are among those teams and apparently so are the Cavs. According to SportsNet New York, the Cavs and Knicks are interested in Mitchell, though to what degree is anyone’s guess. They also mention that the Hornets and Wizard are interested, at least according to the Athletic

"The Knicks are among several teams with interest in trading for Donovan 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 Wizards and Hornets are among the other teams interested in Mitchell, as The Athletic reported."

He’s got his flaws but he has his strengths, the only question one has to ask is if the Jazz’s asking price is fair for a player the caliber of Mitchell.

Donovan Mitchell is the ultimate “maybe” piece for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Trading for Donovan Mitchell is a risk, a risk the Cavaliers don’t need to take. The team is built solidly and has a strong and deep bench to propel them into playoff contention. Though, adding firepower to Mitchell could really help the team. That said, he’s a ball-stopper at times, and he chucks up a lot of bad shots. Plus he’s not the best defensive player ever.

There are pros and cons to Mitchell being a Cavalier and depending on the day will depend on if I’m pro or against it as there is merit to both stances.

Focusing on contract swaps and viable talents with those contracts, you could trade for Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic for Collin Sexton (on a 4-year, $80 million deal), Caris LeVert, and Cedi Osman. Talent for talent, that’s fair.

I would then be ok with two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps. I don’t consider the swaps as “losing a first-rounder”, as the Jazz likely won’t even want our picks in those situations. So the Cavs are only giving up two picks in this trade, and that’s about what I’d be willing to give up for Michell. There are talks that the Jazz want five firsts, and even if two or three of those are swaps, I feel that’s too much.

So if you can get the trade by trading Sexton, LeVert, and third-talent-name here, and just losing two first-round picks, then I think you make the deal.