Are the Utah Jazz hoping to get the Donovan Mitchell trade done by training camp?

Another day, another nugget of information with the Donovan Mitchell trade situation. On the most recent Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst noted that the Utah Jazz may be trying to make the trade happen sooner than later.

From the podcast:

“It does sound as I talk to folks in the league that the Jazz are trying to apply the gas here. To try to juice the offer, especially juice the offer from the New York Knicks.”

This piece of information is interesting because contradicts a lot of the messaging we’ve heard from Jazz beat writers who have claimed the Jazz are willing to start the season with Mitchell, and beyond.

It comes back to the question of who is looking to benefit from this? It’s certainly not the Jazz. For Utah, the best thing for them is to let the Knicks start the season and be terrible, because they’re the Knicks, and then have them relent to Jazz’s demand.

Because Windhorst has been so plugged in with the Jazz and their trades, (who can forget the now infamous “what’s going on in Utah?” quote), it’s definitely something to pay attention to. What I take from it is the Jazz are actively talking to teams and Donovan Mitchell is a part of those trades.

The other interesting tidbit we got yesterday from Tony Jones was the preferred destinations for Donovan Mitchell.

This makes you wonder if some of this information is coming from Donovan Mitchell’s agency or camp. Or is it a leak like that supposed to make the Knicks relent to a trade because they might lose out on Mitchell to another team?

It’s not super clear, but it’s possible we find out soon!