Donovan Mitchell is headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers after the Utah Jazz balked at the most recent offer from the New York Knicks and went back to the Cavs to hammer out a blockbuster deal that sees Collin Sexton go to Utah in a sign-and-trade along with three unprotected future firsts, a pair of pick swaps, Lauri Markkanen, and Ochai Agbaji.
Mitchell’s new Cavs teammates expressed their excitement on Twitter about the deal, but we haven’t heard from the man himself as to how he’s feeling. Luckily, we have Brian Windhorst to help us out with that, as Windy hopped on the radio with ESPN 850 in Cleveland after the deal went down and made sure Cavs fans knew Mitchell was excited, providing a rather hilarious anecdote about Mitchell finding out about the trade while golfing and going crazy when he learned none of the Cavs young stars were going out in the deal.
“It’s a great fit for Donovan Mitchell,” Windhorst said. “And I’m gonna tell you, I can’t tell you how I know, but I’m aware of when he found out. And I’m aware of when he actually found out about what was in the trade. And when he found out — he was on a golf course — and when he found out that Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Darius Garland were not in the trade, and neither was Kevin Love, he went screaming around the golf course, he was so excited. He’s extremely excited in this moment. I’m sure he would love to have been a Knick, that’s his hometown. But he’s extremely excited in the moment.”
It’s the most Windy way possible to start this, by saying “I can’t tell you how I know,” but I can absolutely see an elated Mitchell getting the call on a tee box and celebrating when he learned that the deal is mostly picks focused and the core of the good, young Cavs is still going to be there when he arrives.