AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[KillerLeft]

In all honesty, I don’t see why Utah would be looking to part with Mitchell. They got rid of the guy he hated on the team and their stated goal is to build around him. I can see them making a play for Ayton without using Mitchell (they just got plenty of draft capital to make it happen).

This is a possibility, for sure. My thinking is about the following:

1) They have started to strip down the team (more than just Gobert) not really for veterans, but more so for draft capital. Yes, they might have a deal in mind for that draft capital (Ayton is a good target idea, and there are others, even) but it seems more likely to me that we're seeing a reboot by a new GM. Personally, I have never thought much of Utah as a longterm contender built around Mitchell, Gobert or both. While Mitchell isn't old, he's not young enough to be part of a rebuild, imo. Definitely too seasoned to be excited about it. You're correct that it's just speculation at this point, however.

2) EVERY single national guy is saying Mitchell is about to be traded. Literally, all of them. The guys with contacts, the guys without contacts who get paid to assess the likelihood based on roster movement/cap situations...ALL of them. That's a lot of smoke to my mind.

3) It's a well-known secret that Mitchell has always wanted to play in NY. He's similar to Irving, Brunson and Kemba Walker in that way. 

4) Two of the first moves UTAH made this off-season were to move Mitchell's two best friends off of the roster. He was very close to O'Neal, who was traded for a 1st. This is exactly the kind of trade that wouldn't happen if Ainge had competing this next season in mind, I think, regardless of O'Neal's relationship with Mitchell. It would be like Dallas dumping Bullock for a 1st. They also unceremoniously dumped Mitchell's lifelong friend Paschal. 

5) BRK can't tank after the dust of this KD/Irving business settles, due to Houston having all of their picks. The picks they'd receive in the deals wouldn't suffice as replacements, because those picks will be from good teams and won't be high enough to affect a talent changeover. So, they need an all-star (or two) to come back. They're not going to get any of those teams' best players in exchange for Durant (maybe not even their second best), so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that this is going to be a multi-team deal. Looking around for teams "blowing it up," one very quickly lands on Utah and Mitchell, who, again, we know would be thrilled to play in NY. 

6) The urgency built into the KD situation, for both BRK and whichever team trading for Durant (this WILL be PHX, MIA or TOR, no question) represents Ainge's best opportunity to get an obscenely big haul for Mitchell, just like he did for Gobert. It's the perfect situation, from his perspective. I think he'll get much more for Mitchel than he would without this specific set of circumstances. Think about what the Clippers paid for Paul George when they knew KL was indirectly part of the package. 

7) There are literally tweets from a Suns insider claiming that PHX, UTA and BRK are engaged in 3-way talks, and that Simmons' status on the BRK roster is one of the holdups. This is due to the rule we've been discussing recently. 

To me, the pieces fit together really logically. Any Dallas inclusion is just wishful thinking on my part, I'll admit. But, I'm going to hope that Dallas can capitalize (in some way) until all of this is over and done with.