If you have been hiding under a rock the last three seasons, you probably missed a huge amount of conjecture about what happened with Donovan Mitchell and his trade from the Jazz. If you listened to Donovan Mitchell, you were told that he did not ask for a trade in this very PR friendly sitdown on ESPN.
That’s that, right? Well, behind the scenes, a different story was unfolding, one that the Jazz did a pretty good job of keeping quiet while also working on a trade all offseason. Remember waiting until September for the trade to finally happen?
We recently received some reportable new information. Ben Anderson on the Jazz Notes podcast discussed the Donovan Mitchell situation and provided details about how Mitchell did, in fact, ask for a trade during that final offseason with the Jazz. You can listen to the interview here, it starts at around the 25:45 mark.
At this point, this is all spilt milk, but it certainly makes that interview with Brian Windhorst interesting. Clearly, it was set up to help with PR in mind. It’s a good reminder that these reporters, like Windhorst, are very plugged in, and even work with the players in certain situations. When we hear rumors and reports from these types of reporters, it’s important to listen. And holy smokes did we get endless rumors that offseason between the Jazz and the Knicks. Obviously, Mitchell wanted to go to the Knicks in the trade.
Now, knowing this, all of that derived from one place, Donovan Mitchell himself. And because Mitchell had asked for a trade, the Jazz were doing the work to make it happen. In reality, it’s impressive that the Jazz were able to get what they got, considering they missed out on leverage because Mitchell wanted out.