To The Surprise Of No One, Danny Ainge Is Now Reportedly Open To Potentially Trading Donovan Mitchell

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There goes that man again!

Now, it's important to pay attention to the wording of that Woj bomb. He very clearly states that "rival teams" say that Trader Danny is now open. That did not say "The Utah Jazz are open" to the idea of moving Mitchell. But I'll remind you, who did they hire and bring in to run the front office? Trader Danny. What does Trader Danny do? He trades franchise building blocks for a shit ton of picks in order to restart a rebuild. We know this not just because of what he did on two separate occasions running the Celtics, but what he's already done this summer with the Jazz and Rudy Gobert. It's not like this is completely out of the realm of possibility, in fact I think most people have been waiting for this shoe to drop because it seemed like the logical step after they traded Royce O'Neale and Rudy Gobert. You're clearly tanking/rebuilding when you do that, and when you go down that path you have to be 10 toes down. Donovan Mitchell helps you win games, and winning games is the opposite of tanking.

At the same time, I think it's pretty obvious what's going on here.

Just look at what's been leaked these last few days. First, it was clear that Ainge leaked this report that the Heat's offer for Mitchell was dogshit because all of Pat Riley's players stink

So what does Riley do? He leaks that Danny doesn't even think Donovan Mitchell is a franchise player

These two have hated each other for decades. Their beef is well known by anyone who has been paying attention. This feels like the next step. I'd consider Pat Riley to be a "rival" of Danny Ainge. Historically Woj seems to get his news and leaks from the team side where Shams is more the player side (Klutch). I would bet my life that Riley was the one who told that to Woj. It makes all the sense in the world. He's the one who wants Mitchell. It benefits him to create this narrative that Ainge is ready to move Mitchell. How do you get Mitchell to demand a trade and lower the asking price? You create the idea the Ainge is done with him and wants to move on. We see that shit all the time.

The thing is, I've lived through a few Danny Ainge rebuilds. He legit will trade anyone. You think he gives a shit? It's true he can be stubborn, but that's all dependent on where his team is in their rebuild process. If he has a young star or a duo of young stars, he's willing to see that through rather than trade that player for a big name when his team is on the rise. But when it's at the initial stage of a rebuild? Everyone is on the table. 

I would just tell any Jazz fan reading this blog, welcome to the Danny Ainge Experience. This is how it goes. He's great at winning trades so that should give you confidence, but it's definitely a little nerve-wracking to have Trader Danny in charge of your roster. But when you add it all up and look at the landscape, you see a team that's about to smash the rebuild button. To do that, you want as many swings as you can get in terms of picks. I'm not so sure this is a conversation around "if" Mitchell gets traded as opposed to it being  "when" and "where" he gets traded. 

Look, Windy told us this was coming. The man hasn't been wrong once this entire offseason. The Jazz immediately pushed back about Mitchell and now look at what we're doing. We're talking about the Jazz moving Mitchell. That's not an accident. 

So, where does he go? I can't imagine Ainge helps out Riley since he hates him like poison, so who has the package to pull this off? Mitchell has 4 years left at around $30M-37M a year so it's going to require a big salary player or a collection of salary to make the money work. The thing is, the players can't be too good because what if they help the Jazz win? At that point why not just keep Mitchell. Then you look at who might need a point guard outside of the Heat. The Raptors? The Kings? Does he trade for Kyrie again? Maybe the Bulls get out of the Lonzo Ball business? 

Who knows, but what I do know is this is not the last time we're going to hear about this. You can take that to the bank.