NBA Trade Deadline 2018: One trade every team should make

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SACRAMENTO, CA – JANUARY 17: Donovan Mitchell /

Utah Jazz

Send: Rodney Hood, Dante Exum

Receive: Channing Frye, 2018 first round pick

The Jazz have found another franchise cornerstone in Donovan Mitchell, but the time to compete for the playoffs isn’t now. While Rudy Gobert is back, this is a team that is allowed a year to transition from Gordon Hayward to Mitchell. Getting a late first round pick from the Cavaliers (their own pick, not the Brooklyn pick) for Hood and Exum, both of whom aren’t vital to the next Jazz playoff team, is a fair exchange.

Frye is also a piece that helps the Jazz clear up more space to sign free agents in the offseason. Without the cap holds for Exum and Hood ($14,977,156 and $7,160,593, respectively), the Jazz could clear up to $40 million in cap space — that could be enough to throw big money at players like Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon, or Zach LaVine to build around Gobert and Mitchell. A core of Mitchell, one of those free agents, and Gobert to go with their first round pick this year is a group to get excited about.

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