With Kevin Durant no longer on the market, the biggest name that still headlines the rumor mill is Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz star has been heavily linked with the Knicks this offseason, but there hasn’t been any progress so far.
Utah looked reluctant to letthe 25-year-old guard leave, but the departure of Rudy Gobert may have changed things. Now the team seems open to negotiating Spida but its high demands have yet to be met by hissuitors.
New York has reportedly re-engaged in trade talks with Utah a few weeks back, so it could be just a matter of time before a deal is struck. According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Jazz want to trade Mitchell before training camp gets underway.
NBA Trade Rumors: Jazz want to move Donovan Mitchell before training camp
“It sounds to me, in talking to people around the league, that the Jazz want to try and go even sooner than that. They want to go before the training camp,” Windhorst said, as quoted by Fadeaway World.
“Some of this could be arbitrary. You always see this with trades where teams invent a deadline to force a team because they know that teams make their best offers before a deadline. The real deadline isn’t until February but it does sound as I talk to folks in the league that the Jazz are trying to apply the gas here, trying to juice the offer, especially the one from the New York Knicks.“
This is just what the Knicks wanted to hear, as Mitchell could be the missing piece they need to become a threat in the East. They are still ahead of the pack to get the Jazz star, but they must make sure of meeting Utah’s demands before another team does.
