Getty The Jazz clear the air.
The New York Knicks lost the Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a move that very few saw coming.
There were a variety of reasons on why it happened, and Fox Sports analyst Ric Bucher reported a reason for it was that the Jazz wanted to spite the Knicks.
“Why Donovan Mitchell wound up with the Cavs…(Learned yet another reason after recording the podcast: some Jazz officials were not happy that Mitchell wanted out and viewed sending him to CLE — rather than home to NY — as payback),” he said.
Mitchell has a lot of ties to the New York area, so it makes sense that he’d want to be closer to home, but the Jazz ultimately traded him to Cleveland.
Speaking on his podcast “The Lowe Post,” Zach Lowe and guest Ian Begley shot down the report that this trade was made with payback on the mind.
Jazz Deny the Report
An important decision like the trade of your star player is something that shouldn’t be done with anything other than making sure you get the best offer, and Jazz sources speaking to Lowe say that was what was done.
“I’ve seen some report, forgive me I can’t remember who, said ‘Well, the Jazz were upset Donovan Mitchell maybe wasn’t all-in forever with Utah and as punishment we’re going to send him to a place he doesn’t want to go do,’” he said on the podcast, as transcribed by Sports Illustrated. “Emotions can play into this. I’ve been assured by the Utah side that, ’No, look, we’re mature people. Yes, we were upset by particularly the Mavs’ game incident, but we’re not going to make decisions based on those kind of things that now happened four months ago or whatever. We’ve made the best deal possible.’”
Begley agreed with the assessment, so there are now conflicting reports about how the negotiations went with the Jazz. At the end of the day, the Knicks don’t have Mitchell and the Cavaliers do, so it ultimately doesn’t matter what happened with the talks.
Knicks Feel They Had Better Offer
The Knicks were left holding the bag in yet another deal for a star, but this time around they had more that enough to get a trade done.
However, New York believes they weren’t given a chance to give a counteroffer, and even believe they had the better offer in the end, according to the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy.
“The Knicks, according to sources, feel like their proposals with RJ Barrett as the centerpiece with multiple first-round picks were better than the Cavs’ final offer, which is up to interpretation,” he wrote.
After the trade was announced, the Knicks formally revealed their extension with RJ Barrett, and it looks like they plan on moving forward with the young core intact. They will also be hanging onto their plethora of draft picks that they could decide to dangle in future trades or use for themselves.
While Mitchell isn’t in town, it looks like the future of the Knicks is still brighter than it has been in years.