Getty Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles against Julius Randle of the New York Knicks during the first half at Barclays Center.
While the New York Knicks may have garnered ample attention from both fans and the media thanks to their free agency signings and reported trade pursuits, their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, have easily been the most talked about New York-based basketball team this offseason.
Once news broke on June 30 that superstar wing Kevin Durant requested a trade, the sports world went into a frenzy, with new hypothetical trade packages and reports of potential landing spots seemingly being pushed out daily.
However, recent buzz suggests that this type of content may soon be fizzling out, as ESPN reported on August 23 that Durant and the Nets have come to a mutual agreement to stay together heading into the upcoming season.
On the surface, one may view this as being news that solely impacts Brooklyn and its franchise cornerstone.
However, when considering the fact that more than half of the league’s teams have inquired about striking a deal with the Nets this summer, this report goes far beyond the Barclays Center, and, in theory, could wind up benefiting the Knicks in the long run.
KD News Could Help Knicks Land Mitchell
All offseason long, the New York Knicks have reportedly been in pursuit of Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and just recently The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Tony Jones reported on August 16 that the two parties have “re-engaged” in their trade negotiations after a brief hiatus.
“After several weeks of no conversations, the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz recently re-engaged in trade talks centered on Donovan Mitchell, league sources tell The Athletic.
“The Knicks and Jazz had a fresh trade conversation within the past week about potential packages for Mitchell, according to sources,” Charania and Jones said.
Since this report surfaced, there has been word of a few instances where the Knicks have sent an offer in Utah’s direction, with a recent one being Evan Fournier, Obi Toppin, additional salary, and five total first-round picks, per an August 22 article by The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
This proposal went on to be rejected by the Jazz as it falls short of their “wild” trade demands, most notably their desire to acquire upwards of seven first-round picks in the process.
Should New York hold strong on their unwillingness to include much more into a package for Mitchell, one could argue that adding a third team into the mix could wind up making perfect sense for both ball clubs.
Enter: The Los Angeles Lakers.
Throughout the Kevin Durant drama, L.A. was often found linked as being a possible trade partner for the Nets, be it in a deal for KD, one solely for Kyrie Irving, or, shockingly, for both.
Now with the situation settled in Brooklyn (for now, at least), the Lakers will likely have to turn elsewhere in order to make a deal in an attempt to better fill out their rotation. Perhaps joining on as a third party in a deal involving the Knicks and Jazz could be a way for them to get the ball rolling in this department.
Knicks, Jazz & Lakers Have Already Talked
The concept of seeing a multi-team deal go down between these three organizations is nothing new, as it was reported in an August 5 article penned by HoopsHype’s Michael A Scotto that the Knicks, Jazz, and Lakers had all taken part in such discussions.
“The proposed three-team trade scenario included Westbrook going to Utah and getting bought out. Utah would send Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks, a combination of two players, including Patrick Beverley and Jordan Clarkson, Bojan Bogdanovic or Malik Beasley to the Lakers, and the Jazz would receive significant draft pick compensation from the Knicks and Lakers. The Knicks also would’ve had to part with veteran salary filler(s), such as Derrick Rose to help make the salaries work,” Scotto wrote.