Morning Squawk: Donovan Mitchell traded to Cavaliers

Morning Squawk is our new ‘news roundup’ style post that will help Atlanta Hawks fans stay up to date with news around the NBA without leaving PeachtreeHoops.com. Enjoy.

Thursday afternoon, word began to break that Donovan Mitchell was finally being traded from the Utah Jazz. Surprisingly, however, the New York Knicks, who were long expected to be the team to acquire Mitchell, were not the team acquiring the young star guard. It was instead the Cleveland Cavaliers who swung a deal for the guard’s services.

Cleveland sent out Atlanta native Collin Sexton, forward Lauri Markkanen, rookie first-round pick Ochai Agbaji, three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029) and two picks swaps (2026, 2028) according to ESPN’s league sources.

The addition of Mitchell adds yet another star to the Cavaliers roster, with the trio of Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley already looking to have a very bright future. Cleveland figures to be among the contenders in the Eastern Conference following the move, as they now have one of the more complete starting lineups in the league.

This certainly only makes things tougher for Trae Young and the Hawks, who already had to navigate a deep and challenging East on their way to trying to secure a top-6 seed and guaranteed postseason berth. This may be the last major domino to fall this offseason, but only time will tell.

The Hawks open the preseason just over a month from now, when they will take on the Milwaukee Bucks for a pair of games in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 6 and Oct. 8 before returning home to finish the preseason slate.

Stay tuned.