Mitchell and Gobert have beef. How do we land Mitchell?

[seancally]

According to Windhorst’s podcast Gobert and Donovan Mitchell don’t like each other. Hard to imagine Gobert traded — DPOY and $40M. But if Utah thinks it’s time to move on from Spida before it gets real bad, how do we poach him?

I imagine they’d want Brown to even open the conversation. I’d counter with Smart/Richardson/Nesmith (etc) and a pick. Think Utah does not have any 1st rounders. There’s the Ainge connection there. Probably doesn’t get it done.

[keevsnick]

Trade Smart somewhere for a picks, young players. Package those with 4 firsts, three swaps. Add in whatever of Nesmith, Pritchard, Langford, Grant they want. Probably add Williams. Use Horfords money as salary matching.

And all of that may not be enough, but maybe Mitchel helps out by making it clear he wants to play with his good friend Jaylen Brown.

[todd_days_41]

This was debated at some length here:

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=106041.0

The notion that you could even suggest a trade for Mitchell that didn't include Brown and multiple other assets is absurd. And Ainge would almost certainly lead with / hold out for Tatum.

[seancally]

Trade Smart somewhere for a picks, young players. Package those with 4 firsts, three swaps. Add in whatever of Nesmith, Pritchard, Langford, Grant they want. Probably add Williams. Use Horfords money as salary matching.

And all of that may not be enough, but maybe Mitchel helps out by making it clear he wants to play with his good friend Jaylen Brown.

That feels like a “blow it up” move for Utah though, but they still have Gobert. If they want to be competitive with Gobert I think they’ll want players ready to contribute now. In that case I imagine Ben Simmons beats that deal, or Brad Beal…

[86MaxwellSmart]

The league might step in if Ainge traded Utah's best player to Boston.

[Celtics2021]

Brown and Mitchell are reportedly very close -- I've been hoping for years that Mitchell/Gobert's ongoing beefs might lead to a breakup giving us Tatum/Brown/Mitchell for a new Big 3.  Gobert and Mitchell have been mad at each other at least since Rudy infected Donovan with Covid in March 2020, and my guess it goes a little further back than that even.

Not sure that a deal ever happens, but if we can build something around Smart and a lot of picks, I'd be thrilled.

[seancally]

The league might step in if Ainge traded Utah's best player to Boston.

Gobert is probably their best player. And that’s Utah’s problem IMO.

[liam]

I have no interest in Mitchell.

[Birdman]

Smart & richardson for Mitchell works.. so do it if u have to throw in picks

[seancally]

I have no interest in Mitchell.

Care to elaborate? We know the Jays can play with a dynamic scoring guard.

[jambr380]

The league might step in if Ainge traded Utah's best player to Boston.

I think it would be okay if it were for Jaylen, but agree that Smart and some picks might raise some eyebrows.

[Celtics2021]

The league might step in if Ainge traded Utah's best player to Boston.

I think it would be okay if it were for Jaylen, but agree that Smart and some picks might raise some eyebrows.

I can’t imagine this deal would happen until the off-season (if it ever happened at all, which is unlikely to begin with), over a year after Ainge left Boston, so I don’t think they’d do anything.  I don’t think they’d do anything now, either, unless they’d already given the Celtics and Jazz a heads up that deals will be scrutinized extra.  (We haven’t heard they would, but it’s not impossible the league sent an email a few months ago that didn’t leak).

[Who]

I am not sure Donovan Mitchell is all that great with Jaylen and Tatum. Mitchell is a high usage medium efficiency offensive player who is at his best when asked to carry a team with low talented offensive players. His value will decline to a high degree when asked to share with two other high usage scorers because of his lack of scoring efficiency.

If we were able to get Mitchell without giving up Jaylen -- and I do not think we would be able to do so because Mitchell is young enough to build a team around him for the next 6-10 years so he will have many teams interested in him so there should be a strong bidding war and Boston's trade package without Jaylen would not be strong enough to compete in that bidding war ...

Hang on, back to that first sentence, if we were able to get Mitchell without giving up Jaylen my next move would be to look to trade either Jaylen or Tatum (preferably Jaylen) for a 3rd star that would fit better next to remaining two. Someone who is more comfortable in a lesser offensive role. Maybe someone who can have a bigger impact as a defender or passer. Some non-scoring contributions.

[liam]

I have no interest in Mitchell.

Care to elaborate? We know the Jays can play with a dynamic scoring guard.

Maybe a misconception on my part but he seems injury-prone. Always seems hurt in the playoffs. I've had enough of small injury-prone guards.

[todd_days_41]

I am not sure Donovan Mitchell is all that great with Jaylen and Tatum.

Unfortunately, this is a problem the Celtics will never have to worry about.

That there's a straight face discussion happening of how we're going to trade Smart and Richardson for Donovan Mitchell is absolutely comic.