NBA Trade Rumor: Utah Jazz and New York Knicks re-engaged in trade talks for Donovan Mitchell

According to Tony Jones and Shams Charania, the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks have re-engaged in trade talks centered around Donovan Mitchell.

According to Jones, the Jazz and Knicks have had conversations in the last week but there are hurdles that remain.

After several weeks of no conversations, the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz recently re-engaged in trade talks centered on Donovan Mitchell, league sources tell The Athletic.

The Knicks and Jazz had a fresh trade conversation within the past week about potential packages for Mitchell, according to sources. There is no traction between the two teams on a deal, and no Mitchell trade is imminent for the Jazz, sources said. The Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards are also among the teams pursuing Mitchell, those sources said.

It’s interesting that these trade talks have resumed but there was “no traction” on a deal. Unless you’re on the phone with these two teams, or on the zoom call (do teams do zoom calls instead of phone calls now? ...Get back to the article), you can only speculate why there’s no traction. It does give the impression that both teams are motivated to meet their goals. For the Knicks, that goal is Donovan Mitchel. For the Jazz? That’s more nuanced, but Jones mentions that the Jazz have “set a high price and ... have maintained they are comfortable keeping Mitchell into the season and beyond.” That motivation for Utah is to get the maximum return if they decide to trade him. They’re going to get it, or they’re not going to make a trade.

The other interesting note from this article is that the Jazz have also talked with the Hornets and Wizards. Both those teams have some interesting elements but, as we have heard ad nauseam, the Knicks have the most assets for a trade which makes them the most likely trade partner. But there is something there that is keeping Danny Ainge and Leon Rose from making this happen, and Utah is either trying to figure out a way to meet the price they’ve set for Mitchell or strong-arm the Knicks into making the move by letting rumors out. Either way, Utah has a staring contest going on right now and whoever you believe has leverage likely comes down to who you root for. And that’s what gets us here again with news of ongoing trade discussions. Both teams have huge incentives to get this done before training camp: Utah has other players on the roster they would like to move and the Knicks would like to have Donovan Mitchell in training camp rather than mid-season when they may have already fallen short of their goals.

At this point, it’s going to be more and more of this waiting game until we get that woj bomb. Until then, we can all argue about leverage and who has it. Ah, the joys of August!