Getty Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz dribbles against RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks.
The New York Knicks and their rising-star RJ Barrett agreed to terms on a four-year, $120 million contract extension on the eve of August 29, and, to many, this is a sign that the franchise is committing long-term to their fourth-year centerpiece.
And while it’s reasonable to assume that this is currently the plan for the organization, during the hours since Barrett’s deal was inked ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski has seemingly capped the excitement quite considerably.
When appearing on an August 30 episode of “Get Up,” Wojnarowski reported that there’s still a chance that trade talks between the Knicks and Utah Jazz could spark back up down the road and, should this happen, Barrett could wind up once again being included in discussions for Donovan Mitchell.
“There’s still a pathway. It’s more complicated, but RJ Barrett now, four years, nearly $120 million. [He] averaged 20 points in his third season in New York. He could still be a part of the package, it just becomes more complicated for New York and Utah to do a Donovan Mitchell trade,” Wojnarowski said.
He would continue on by stating that though talks have stalled out at the moment, he expects the two teams to “start talking again” at some point before training camps open in late September.
Utah ‘Values’ Barrett in a Knicks Deal
Per an August 23 report by SNY’s Ian Begley, the Utah Jazz have a “strong interest” in acquiring Barrett if they end up trading Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks.
And even with this lofty contract now in place, according to Wojnarowski during his August 30 appearance, this interest from the franchise still remains in play.
“The Knicks, their depth of draft picks separates them from the rest of the league. That’s what Danny Ainge values in a trade deal, but RJ Barrett is a player Utah really wanted, really values. And, at least now they know what his contract extension looks like. It’s agreed to in New York, he’ll sign it, and so they won’t have to negotiate that with him if they did trade for him.”
Aside from the high-priced salary, Barrett’s contract includes a “poison pill” provision, meaning that in any potential deal, his outbound contract would be valued at his 2022-23 payscale of $10.9 million for the Knicks while for the Jazz, his cap hit would be valued at around $26.2 million, the average of all five seasons he’s signed on for under his new extension.
Mitchell Scrubs ‘Utah Jazz’ From Twitter
Despite the fact that a Donovan Mitchell deal is still plausible, the RJ Barrett extension certainly makes it more complicated than it has been for the majority of this summer.
And while the Knicks star has gone about and shared his excitement to remain in New York for the foreseeable future, the same seemingly cannot be said about Mitchell, as he’s altered his Twitter account by deleting the Utah Jazz from his bio.
Donovan Mitchell took “Utah Jazz Guard” out of his Twitter bio 👀
This decision by the star guard could be a result of the hypothetical trade complications that have risen from the newly-inked extension halting his desires to end up in New York, a move many believe he covets.