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The New York Knicks are in the process of upgrading their roster even more this offseason, and they are attempting to do so by landing Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell is the kind of talent the Knicks haven’t had since at least 2017, when their last true star, Carmelo Anthony, left New York. In that time, Julius Randle emerged as an All-NBA player in 2020-21, but he stumbled last season and the team failed to make the playoffs.
The Knicks were trying to offer Randle as part of a deal to land Mitchell deal, but the Jazz don’t want him, according to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Instead, they want 22-year-old guard RJ Barrett, Smith said.
“Utah didn’t want Julius Randle, from what I’m told,” he said August 17 on SiriumXM Radio. “They don’t want him. The Knicks were willing to unload him. Utah don’t want him. They want RJ Barrett. They want at least six first-round picks.”
Barrett, who averaged 20 points in 34.5 minutes per game last year (only the 15th player 21 or younger to average 20 in a season over the last decade, according to The Athletic), is eligible for an extension, and it is expected that he will seek a max extension given that his statistics at his age are “jaw-dropping and place him in elite company,” Tommy Beer wrote on August 1.
However, according to a survey of 16 people in NBA front offices, none of them “advocated for the Knicks to give him the max,” The Athletic’s Fred Katz wrote on June 27.
Jazz Shift Course?
The Jazz at least wondered what a Barrett extension would look like for them, according to an August 1 story by SNY’s Ian Begley. So there’s a possibility the Knicks could have considered letting go of their young cornerstone.
“The idea that the Jazz were thinking about what a Barrett extension may look like isn’t surprising,” Begley wrote. “Any team in Utah’s position would want to project an extension for him into any possible trade scenarios. But the idea that the Jazz asked about a package including Barrett and tried to estimate what an extension would look like for the player tells you that Utah had a degree of interest in Barrett.”
Currently, Mitchell, a three-time All-Star who turns 26 in September, is a clear-cut better player than Barrett, but that doesn’t mean the Knicks should trade give up one for the other.
“But if I’m the Knicks, I refuse to put Barrett in a deal for Mitchell,” Begley wrote. “If you have a roster with Mitchell, Jalen Brunson, and the current Knicks but without Barrett (and, let’s say, one of Obi Toppin, Quentin Grimes, Cam Reddish or Immanuel Quickley), you are setting yourself up to fail.”
Will The Needle Move?
The Knicks have long been considered to be the front-runners in a Mitchell trade, but there’s been next to no movement on one for weeks.
On August 16, The Athletic reported that the two teams have resumed talks but that “hurdles toward a deal remain” with the start of training camps roughly six weeks away.
According to The Athletic both the Jazz and Mitchell appear “comfortable” maintaining their relationship for the foreseeable future.
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