The Jazz intend to pick up Tony Bradley’s and Donovan Mitchell’s fourth year options, ensuring that the two 2017 draftees will have their contracts extended through at least 2020-21, if not further.
Mitchell’s fourth-year pickup was no surprise, after the third-year sensation put up two of the best initial seasons in recent memory. Bradley’s was a little bit more up in the air, as he’s played just 12 NBA games in his first two seasons.
The story, first reported by The Athletic Thursday night, means that Mitchell will be paid $5,195,501 and Bradley $3,542,060 in the 2020-21 season. Both will eligible for extensions next October. If the two sides can’t come to terms then, Bradley and Mitchell will be restricted free agents in the summer of 2021. That means the Jazz could match any offers they received from other NBA teams, and keep the two players in a Jazz uniform.
Mitchell, the only player under 6-foot-5 to put up more than 20 points per game in his first two seasons since Allen Iverson in 1996-98, figures to lead the Jazz in scoring again as one of the NBA’s brightest young stars.
Bradley hasn’t yet found his footing with the Jazz, but after being drafted No. 28, the center from North Carolina always was considered a project. In recent preseason and summer league performances, he’s impressed with his ability to score around the rim and rebound on both ends of the court. For the 2019-20 season, he’s penciled in the team’s third center.
