Fantasy Basketball Trade Thought: Should You Trade For/Away Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell?

As the NBA All-Star break approaches, that means fantasy basketball postseason matchups are right around the corner.

I decided to check out the FantasySP trade analyzer and noticed that Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell was part of three popular trades. So for this article, let’s break down each of those trades from each side of things and help fantasy owners make up their minds on Mitchell.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy basketball trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Mitchell’s Season

Let’s first take a look at the season Mitchell is having. 

Mitchell has started 43 games, averaging 35.4 minutes per game. He’s also averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 0.5 blocks.

He’s only failed to reach 20 points in four games. Mitchell has scored over 30 points on 18 occasions, including five games over 40 points.

Mitchell has at least five rebounds in 27 contests, while going for five or more assists in 33 games. He’s got at least one steal in all but three contests, while having at least one block in 17 games.

All those numbers add up to the 11th overall spot on the FantasySP trade value chart.

Popular Trades

Mitchell is part of popular one-for-one player trades with Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis and Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard and a two-player return deal of Atlanta Hawks’ Dejounte Murray and New Orleans Pelicans’ Jonas Valanciunas.

Let’s break down these three trades, from the perspective of both teams.

Sabonis has pretty quietly been a fantasy stud this season. He’s averaging 20.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks across 35.7 minutes and 53 games played. 

His lack of big scoring nights allows him to fly under the radar a bit, but those rebound and assist numbers push his fantasy value sky high. Sabonis is up to fourth on the trade value charts with those averages. 

Leonard and the Clippers are both having really good seasons. Leonard has played in 48 games this season, averaging 34.3 minutes, 24.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. 

Leonard currently sits 15th on the trade value chart, although he took a little bit of a dip because he’s injured and out for the team’s Feb. 14 game.

Murray has played in 51 games for the Hawks, averaging 35.1 minutes, 21.6 points, 5.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.3 blocks per game.

Those averages have Murray sitting 36th on the trade value chart as of the time this article was published.

Valanciunas has played in 54 games for New Orleans. He’s averaging 25.7 minutes, 13.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 block and 0.4 steals per contest.

The Pelicans’ big man sits 53rd on the trade value charts.

Trade Breakdowns with Help from Analyzer

Now that we’ve introduced the trades, let’s discuss how to proceed, with some help from the FantasySP trade analyzer.

The analyzer says that trading Sabonis for Mitchell is a trade that favors the team getting Sabonis. I agree, so if you get offered Sabonis for Mitchell, I’d absolutely do it. 

If you are after Mitchell and can afford to move Sabonis, I’d look to expand the deal to even things up some more. Your best bet would probably be to add another player to each side of the deal, with the player joining Mitchell being of higher value. Use our trade value charts to see what players could make a more even deal. 

The trade with Mitchell and Leonard is pretty close, with the team getting Mitchell coming out slightly ahead. I’d agree with the analyzer again here. If I had Leonard and was offered Mitchell, I’d take that deal.

I’m a touch worried with Leonard given his injury history, so I’d personally like to see this deal expand if I’m trading Mitchell away. That probably means adding at least one player to each side of the deal again to help even things out.

The trade analyzer says the team landing Murray and Valanciunas for Mitchell is coming out way ahead. Again, I’d agree with that assessment, so if I was offered Murray and Valanciunas for Mitchell, I’d do that in a heartbeat.

If I was the one getting Mitchell, simply adding another player with a player rating value of around 18 (or even a couple points lower because Mitchell is the best player in the deal) would help even things out. 

Happy trading!