The Salt Lake Tribune’s Eric Walden created a list of trade scenarios that include the Utah Jazz and the other 29 teams in the NBA. For the Oklahoma City Thunder trade, it included the teams swapping franchise guards with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell.
“Pure chaos trade. OKC makes the bet that Mitchell is the better player; Utah goes for a younger, talented guy on a longer contract. Plus, cousins SGA and Nickeil Alexander-Walker would be teamed up!”
From the Jazz perspective, I’m sure the team would love to get a second chance with a young, dynamic scoring guard on a long-term deal as it appears its relationship with Mitchell has soured for the worst. Gilgeous-Alexander would give the Jazz a do over.
For the Thunder, this trade really doesn’t make a ton of sense; the team seems to really like Gilgeous-Alexander and he still has more room to grow between the two players due to the two-year age difference.
Either way, considering they’re both similar players with similar ages on similar contracts, this feels like a lateral move at best and a downgrade at worst for the Thunder.
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