Getty RJ Barrett has strong words.
Shortly after the news came out that Donovan Mitchell would be going to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks officially announced their four-year extension of RJ Barrett.
The young swingman was being included in talks for the star guard, but they ultimately held onto him and their stable of draft picks.
Barrett has improved each season he’s been in the league, and he even upped his scoring average to 20 points per game last season, so he’s not all that far from making an All-Star team himself if this keeps up.
When Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro got a bigger extension that Barrett did just weeks later, fans had things to say. Many Knicks fans believed Herro to be an overpay, but there are people out there who believe the Heat guard is simply a better player.
Barrett doesn’t think it’s as simple as that, and he even has some theories.
Barrett Sounds Off
Before the preseason win over the Detroit Pistons, Barrett revealed he doesn’t get a lot of love from fans around the NBA, with not only him feeling the brunt of that but the Knicks as well.
“Besides the fans, which we do have a lot of fans, everybody else really doesn’t like us,” he said via the New York Post. “I mean, I don’t know. … It’s weird.”
He says that there is a level of respect from people, but it’s met with disrespect as well.
“I’ve gotten respect, but at the same time, there’s also a lot of disrespect. But that’s fine. All the guys that they want to put in front of me or whatever, I’m in their heads, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Knicks Calls Out Draft Class
Barrett was drafted number three overall in the 2019 NBA Draft behind Zion Williamson and Ja Morant. Both of those players have blossomed into stars and were rightly named to the All-Rookie team. However, Barrett was omitted from that list and it seems like he still feels slighted by it.
“I wasn’t on an All-Rookie team and look where I ended up,” he said. “Where are some of those guys, you know what I mean?”
Given that all of those players named to the All Rookie teams are still on their rookie contracts, or have already signed an extension, they are all hanging around in the league, but Barrett is unquestionably better than several of them.
Terence Davis II, drafted by the Toronto Raptors, is now on the Sacramento Kings where he sees sporadic playing time. Kendrick Nunn went undrafted and was still named to the First-Team, but he has also bounced around.
These awards don’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s very interesting that Barrett was left off both the first and second teams despite starting every game and scoring 14 points per game.
Barrett got his money at the end of the day, and he’ll likely be one of the highest paid members of his class when it’s all said and done.