A little over a year ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz stunned the NBA world. Donovan Mitchell was traded to Cleveland for a package centered on Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and draft picks. The most surprising element was the team Mitchell didn't get traded to.
For months, Mitchell was pegged as a future Knick. The Jazz were rebuilding and the Knicks, with a full complement of draft picks to trade, were star-hunting. Players of a certain stature are naturally drawn to New York. Madison Square Garden has earned the 'Mecca of Basketball' moniker. It felt like a natural match.
Instead, Mitchell went to the midwest and took the Cavs to another level. Cleveland finished the season with 51 wins, enough for the fourth seed in a competitive Eastern Conference. The backcourt pairing with Darius Garland went swimmingly, and the Cavs managed one of the best defenses in the NBA despite Mitchell's well-documented limitations.
All the good vibes in Cleveland hit a brick wall in the playoffs, when the gosh-darn New York Knicks came to town as the No. 5 seed and won — in five games — behind the steadfast production of flashy new point guard Jalen Brunson.
Now, Mitchell's future with the Cavs is very much under the microscope.
League insider Bill Simmons called Mitchell eventually leaving Cleveland the "worst-kept secret in the NBA." If Mitchell does decide the charms of Ohio aren't enough for him, the Knicks are equipped to put together a compelling trade offer.
But... why didn't the Knicks trade for him the first time around? Well, former New York GM Scott Perry was kind enough to explain that to the 'Hoop Genius Podcast.'
"Obviously we made a push to trade for him. But it was going to be done within reason. He was a good player but he needed more around him to win. Because if he was that singular force, Utah probably would've been in the conference finals if he were that singular force. … But he wasn't that singular force. That's not a criticism against him. That's just an evaluation that you must make." (h/t New York Post)
Scott Perry explains why Knicks didn't trade for Donovan Mitchell
Perry deserves credit for his honesty here. It's not often that you hear a front office executive speak so bluntly about player evaluations. Even post-firing. Perry has a chance to get back into the game if he so chooses, but his Mitchell evaluation probably deserves equal amounts of praise and scrutiny.
On one hand... Perry is objectively correct. The Knicks beat Mitchell's Cavs in the first round, in part due to Mitchell's shortcomings as a defender and volume creator. On the other hand, he's casting a broad net with the phrase "singular force." How many NBA players, on their own, guarantee a deep postseason run. How many "singular forces" exist?
The answer is very few. Mitchell exists in that second or third tier of NBA stardom, below the perennial MVP candidates like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic — A.K.A., the "singular forces." That doesn't mean Mitchell can't be the best player on a contender, or at least a conference finals team. New York was a couple wins short of the conference finals with Jalen Brunson, and sorry to burst the New York bubble, but Mitchell is the better player. Just imagine if the Knicks had both.
It's the job of the general manager to put the right pieces around their stars. Mitchell hasn't been to the conference finals yet, it's true. But, a lot of the blame for that lies on the personnel around him. Cleveland sank with two non-shooters in the frontcourt and terrible wing depth. The Jazz always struggled to overcome the dissonence between Rudy Gobert's regular season dominance and his postseason flimsiness.
Mitchell with the right collection of players can, without a doubt, get to the conference finals or beyond. The Knicks could be hoping against hope that a "singular force" like Embiid becomes available for trade, but here's a newsflash — Embiid hasn't been to the conference finals either. Doncic just missed the playoffs. It's never guaranteed. It takes a complete team.
The Knicks should be willing to dish out significant assets if Mitchell becomes available to them. Cleveland really broke the bank, giving up a couple rotation guys, a quality rookie, and three unprotected future first-round picks. Such is the price of stardom. If the Knicks want Mitchell, at any point, it will probably require a similar trade haul or a lucrative contract offer in free agency.