Report: Utah Jazz Reportedly Sent Donovan Mitchell To the Cleveland Cavaliers As ‘Payback’

Talk about a petty report.

Last week the Cleveland Cavaliers made a big trade to acquire Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell. The man known as Spider had wanted out of Utah ever since the team traded away big man Rudy Gobert, and as expected, the Utah Jazz got a bunch of draft picks and even some players in return. Cleveland turned out to be a surprise for Donovan Mitchell when you consider how everyone figured he would end up on the New York Knicks or even the Miami Heat. Instead the Utah Jazz sent Donovan Mitchell to a destination that doesn’t exactly scream sexy. Compared to Miami and New York, Cleveland seems pale in comparison.

According to Ric Bucher of Fox Sports, the Jazz sent Mitchell to Cleveland out of spite. Bucher claims that Jazz brass were upset over Mitchell’s trade request and they wanted to get back at him somehow. Sending him to the Cavaliers was a way to do that especially since Mitchell wanted to go back home closer to New York.

Why Donovan Mitchell wound up with the Cavs…(Learned yet another reason after recording the podcast: some Jazz officials were not happy that Mitchell wanted out and viewed sending him to CLE — rather than home to NY — as payback) https://t.co/2KhwmHzwt5 via @acast

— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) September 4, 2022

At the end of the day, Donovan Mitchell is in a good spot, as the Cavaliers have a much better roster right now than the New York Knicks. Not sure how the Jazz figured sending Mitchell to Cleveland was “payback.” Maybe a Winter in Cleveland versus Miami is some sort of punishment, but still not seeing how it’s payback putting Mitchell is a position to win.

But that’s what the report suggests.

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