Utah Jazz Following the Danny Ainge Blueprint By Stockpiling Draft Picks
The Utah Jazz finally moved their last significant piece on Thursday when they shipped All-Star Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The deal was a monster for the Jazz. Since arriving last summer, executive Danny Ainge has begun remaking the franchise using the plan he executed with the Boston Celtics: stockpiling a ton of draft picks.
Sources: The Cleveland Cavaliers are trading Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks and two pick swaps to the Utah Jazz for Donovan Mitchell.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 1, 2022
The Jazz have completely remade their roster this offseason, unloading two All-Stars by moving Mitchell to Cleveland and Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In those trades the franchise netted seven unprotected first-round picks, three first-round pick swaps and a host of young players, including two first-rounders from the 2022 NBA Draft. Over the next seven drafts, the Jazz have 15 first-round picks.
Danny Ainge's haul for Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell:
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) September 1, 2022
Seven unprotected first round picks
Three first round pick swaps
Ochair Agbaji (No. 14 pick in 2022)
Walker Kessler (No. 22 pick in 2022)
Jarred Vanderbilt
Lauri Markkanen
Collin Sexton
Malik Beasley
Patrick Beverley
Additions to the above list should include turning Patrick Beverley into Talen Horton-Tucker, and shipping Royce O'Neale to the Brooklyn Nets for another first-round pick. That's eight first-rounders and three first-round pick swaps added in one summer.
During his time with the Celtics, Ainge loaded up on draft picks and deployed them shrewdly. Most notably, he selected All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who just led the Celtics to the NBA Finals. Utah is hoping for similar results with its reboot.