The Jazz have traded up in the 2017 NBA Draft to select Donovan Mitchell out of Louisville. According to The Vertical, they will trade Trey Lyles and the No. 24 pick overall to the Nuggets. Denver has been in trade rumors most of Thursday, but those were related to bigger names.
Utah has made a deal with Denver for the 13th pick and will select Donovan Mitchell, sources says. Live: https://t.co/pVi69Gfatv
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 23, 2017
Lyles is a solid forward that played decent minutes in Utah, but now he goes from a playoff team to playoff hopeful. Denver is in need of solid players like Lyles so this could be a good pickup for them depending on how he develops.
Utah trading up is actually a little surprising. The Jazz are coming off a playoff appearance and one of their best seasons in recent memory. However, Mitchell has the potential to play immediately, and with the future of Gordon Hayward in question this could be a good move.
Mitchell is a great scorer out of Louisville. He started off the the draft process as a late first-round projection, but through workouts he managed to move his way up the lottery and end up on a playoff team. He'll fit well in Utah and could find himself in a bigger role than expected depending how this summer shakes out.
