What if Cavs, Wolves, Hawks never made their blockbuster trades?

The direction of an entire NBA franchise can change in a moment, with a single transaction being called into the league office. When the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Donovan Mitchell last year it completely altered their future, and most of a season later they have locked up their first playoff berth in five years, and the first without LeBron James in 25 seasons.

The Mitchell blockbuster between the Cavs and the Utah Jazz was one of just three massive trades from last summer. Three teams on the fringe of the playoffs — Minnesota was a seven seed, Atlanta an eight seed, Cleveland the first team out — made big swings to improve their standing.

The Cavaliers were one of three teams that made major trades last summer

There were significant parallels between all three deals. All three teams traded future draft equity to add a win-now player, and they did so by adding a player who largely played the same position as their current star. The Cavaliers added Mitchell when they already had Darius Garland; the Hawks added Dejounte Murray to a backcourt with Trae Young; the Timberwolves brought in Rudy Gobert when they had Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Mitchell trade largely looks like a success for both sides; the other two seem more slanted toward the sellers, although there is still plenty of time for things to play out. The future of these deals isn’t our focus today, but rather the past: what if these trades didn’t happen?

What if last summer the Utah Jazz had elected to hold onto Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and run it back? How would the future of the Timberwolves and Cavaliers be different? And what if the Atlanta Hawks didn’t trade for Dejounte Murray; what about their present would change? Let’s take a look at these major “what ifs” and see what the landscape would look like.