What A Hornets-Jazz Trade Involving Donovan Mitchell Could Look Like
Alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell and the status of the Utah Jazz ahead of the start of training camp in September remains one of the biggest headlines across the NBA.
While Utah’s All-Star guard has not requested a trade from the team, the Jazz do appear to be going through some sort of a rebuild or re-tooling process, leading many to speculate that Mitchell could be following All-Star Rudy Gobert out the door in a trade before the start of the 2022-23 season. Gobert was recently dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason on July 1.
As of right now, Donovan Mitchell remains the face of the Utah Jazz, even though multiple teams have already reached out to the Jazz in attempts to trade for him.
The New York Knicks remain heavy favorites to ultimately land Mitchell given that his roots are in New York, but two new teams have recently been named as possible suitors for the All-Star shooting guard.
Recently, The Athletic’s Shams Charania mentioned the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets as teams monitoring Mitchell’s situation with the Utah Jazz.
Charania: “There is really no movement as of yet on the Mitchell to the Knicks front, but in the meantime, I am told that the Jazz are continuing conversations with other teams that are interested in Mitchell. Teams like Charlotte [Hornets] and Washington [Wizards] I’m told, but overall throughout this entire process, the Knicks have been the focus of many around the league, including the Jazz when it comes to Donovan Mitchell…”
It is definitely a long-shot to believe that the Charlotte Hornets have what it takes to pull off a trade for Donovan Mitchell, but they certainly have the assets to make a statement move before the start of the 2022-23 season.
Missing the playoffs after losing in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament this past season was not all bad for Charlotte simply because they learned a lot about their roster. LaMelo Ball took the next step in his career by becoming a first-time All-Star, the Hornets found depth in Kelly Oubre Jr. and Cody Martin and most importantly, Miles Bridges emerged as a high-level No. 2 scoring option alongside Ball.
The bad news for the Hornets this offseason though is that Bridges may never play in the NBA again, as he faces one count of injuring a child’s parent and two counts of child abuse due to felony charges of domestic violence and child abuse.
Taking Bridges out of the equation now for the Charlotte Hornets, they are left very thin in terms of overall production. LaMelo Ball can only do so much for this team and does a supporting cast of Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and a blend of young talents have what it takes to make the playoffs in a very crowded Eastern Conference?
The simple answer here is a resounding “no,” which is why President of Basketball Operations and GM Mitch Kupchak and this front-office still have a lot of work to do in order to make the Hornets a real threat.
Pursuing Donovan Mitchell in a trade would not be easy, but the Hornets do own a first-round pick every year through 2029 and they have a handful of young players who were recently drafted in the first-round.
P.J. Washington was drafted 12th overall in 2019, James Bouknight was drafted 11th overall in 2021, Kai Jones was drafted 19th overall in 2021 and Mark Williams was recently taken 15th overall in this year’s 2022 NBA Draft. All four of these players could draw Utah's interest in a potential trade for Mitchell.
In addition to the young talents the Hornets could potentially offer along with some first-round draft picks, Mason Plumlee and Terry Rozier could be added to a deal with Utah in order to match Donovan Mitchell’s $30.3 million salary for the 2022-23 season.
A trade package of Mason Plumlee, Terry Rozier, James Bouknight, P.J. Washington and 3-4 first-round draft picks may very well be enough value for the Jazz to take back in a trade involving Mitchell and from a salary standpoint, the Hornets would be sending out $40.7 million in combined salaries, more than enough to make this deal.
It is quite possible that if this was a proposed deal from Charlotte to Utah, that the Hornets could ask for former Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson to be included in this deal with Donovan Mitchell, giving the Hornets two key backcourt talents to pair with LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward in attempts to make a playoff push in the Eastern Conference.
Who knows if the Jazz would even consider an offer from the Hornets, but what this potential offer comes down to is Charlotte’s willingness to sacrifice a large chunk of their future.
Going out and getting both Mitchell and Clarkson presents a path to winning for the Hornets. However, a move like this probably would not increase their championship odds too much.
LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson and Gordon Hayward form a solid core group, but the rest of this roster would be very young and unproven.
With teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference standings right now and not going anywhere this upcoming year, it would be tough for the Charlotte Hornets to truly be a title threat.
For this reason alone is why the Hornets will most likely not be willing to sacrifice a large chunk of their future for someone like Donovan Mitchell. With this said though, we should not count out Charlotte from making another big move for a notable name available on the trade market.
Miles Bridges’ production needs to be replaced somehow and all of this team’s future assets will not be utilized, which is why Kupchak and Charlotte’s front-office are definitely doing their homework right now to try and come up with ideas on how to better themselves heading into the 2022-23 season.
