Did Cavaliers get infinitely better with Donovan Mitchell trade? | Opinion
Sep. 25—I know what you're thinking.
The Cavaliers traded for three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who in five seasons with the Jazz averaged 24 points, four rebounds and 4.5 assists. Now, it's go-time and a deep playoff run for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland now has a bonafide mega-star, a face of a franchise.
Mitchell is a scoring machine. Remember him in the 2020 playoffs bubble? If not, know he averaged 36 points, five rebounds and five assists in seven games.
With Mitchell, the Cavaliers got a player who can pour in the buckets. He's only 26 years old.
With Mitchell, the Cavaliers also got a player who many believe is a superstar. Let's talk about that.
In five seasons, Mitchell led the Jazz to regular-season victory marks of 48, 50, 44 (the COVID bubble season), 52 and 49. That's good.
In three of those seasons, Utah was bounced out of the first round of the playoffs. That's not good.
In the other two seasons, the Jazz lost in Round 2. For Cavs fans jumping for joy about the Mitchell trade, should that be the minimum level of expectations for the 2022-23 season — no worse than Round 2 of this season's playoffs?
We'll see what Mitchell, his teammates and Cavs brass say Sept. 26 during media day at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Whether they like it or not, the pressure is on for everyone within the Cavaliers this season and going forward. With Mitchell, point guard Darius Garland, plus bigs Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, all the pieces seem to be in place for big-time success.
But back to the blockbuster Mitchell trade. The deal was made for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Cleveland's No. 1 draft pick Ochai Agbaji of Kansas, three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027 and 2029) and two pick swaps (2026 and 2028).
In Sexton's first three seasons, his scoring average went from 16.7 points per game as a rookie to 20.8 his second year then 24.3 in Year 3. Last season, he played in 11 games and averaged 16.0 points before getting injured.
Sexton is three years younger than Mitchell at age 23. Both are 6-foot-1. Both are not known for their defense.
Markkanen being involved in the trade wasn't a shocker. If General Manager Koby Altman was going to pull off the deal, a player such as Markkanen had to be involved, but he will be missed.
At 7-foo-1, Markkenan had a lot of value in his first year with the team, and he's 36-percent career shooter from 3-point range. Not counting Sexton, he was Cleveland's fourth-leading scorer at 14.8 points and appeared to have a firm spot with the franchise.
"It was kind of a shock. I didn't hear anything before, I didn't see my name in any rumors," Markkanen told Basketnews.com about the trade. "It was emotional. I understand the business side of it. So I've got no hard feelings. I thanked them for the opportunity that I had. But the first moments were really emotional for me because we really liked Cleveland and thought we'd found a home there."
Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff stresses defense, and with Markkanen's size he was an asset to that philosophy. There are several in place to replace Markkanen this season. Kevin Love returns, but at age 34, is it reasonable to expect another season similar to 2021-22, when he averaged 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds off the bench? Also this past weekend, Dean Wade was locked up for three seasons.
It might also be reasonable to wonder if Markkanen's full potential is on the horizon. For what it's worth, at the recently completed Eurobasket tournament playing for Finland, he averaged 27.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists in seven games. Included were games of 33, 34 and 43 points.
The heart of the Mitchell trade is this — in two, three seasons (assuming he's healthy) how different type of players will Sexton and Mitchell be?
If the answer is about the same — that being averaging between 20 and 25 points with four to five rebounds and assists — will the trade be looked at as a good or bad?
On the flip side, if Altman wanted to make a splash — and with Mitchell available — the timing to make it was now.
Time will tell on the trade. How it plays out for the Cavs will be fascinating to watch.
