The Miami Heat will need to get a third team involved if they want to be the franchise that ends up dealing for Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell in a blockbuster trade.
Even if the Miami Heat are interested in acquiring Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz, they do not have the assets presently to orchestrate a blockbuster trade for him on their own.
Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune outlined what the Jazz are essentially looking for in a deal.
He listed four teams (Miami, the New York Knicks, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors), as well as a potential four-team scenario to send Mitchell elsewhere.
From my understanding of what the Jazz are looking for…
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) July 14, 2022
- NYK deal: They want more picks (‘29?), pick swaps, and/or Grimes
- MIA deal: More picks + Strus
- TOR deal: Not close whatsoever
- OKC deal: Not close, picks have no upside
- 4 team deal: Actually Jazz could do that https://t.co/ty7zuzgZMt
Larsen would add the Jazz have told the Heat to get a third team involved if they are serious about trading for Mitchell, as Utah does not see Miami as has having enough quality assets on its own.
They’ve asked the Heat to engage a third team if they’re interested in Donovan, because they don’t find the packages the Heat can offer sufficient
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) July 14, 2022
While Miami is in pursuit of an NBA championship, Utah looks to be heading towards a rebuild.
Utah Jazz want more for Donovan Mitchell than what Miami Heat can give up
With Danny Ainge now a prominent part of the Jazz’s front office, look for him to do the same sort of things he did when he rebuilt the Boston Celtics years ago. He traded away marquee stars like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for picks, picks and more picks to the Brooklyn Nets. Since Salt Lake City is not a noted free agency destination, building through the NBA Draft is beyond imperative.
Though Miami does have the benefit of playing in the opposite conference of Utah, it will be interesting to see what team would want to willingly help them out in their quest to acquire a star. The Heat have also been a candidate to trade for Kevin Durant in a deal with Brooklyn. By adding either player, one would think Miami would be among the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
The other important wrinkle in this is Utah has already orchestrated one blockbuster trade of epic proportions this summer. By trading away Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah has reset the market for what it takes to give up an All-NBA caliber player. While they got a boatload of picks from Minnesota for Gobert, they may have hurt themselves a bit with Mitchell’s market.
Miami could end up trading for Mitchell, but there needs to be at least a third party involved here.