The New York Knicks have been negotiating on and off with the Utah Jazz for weeks on a trade centered around three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell. Very rarely does a star player want to play in New York, but it was a challenge that Mitchell sounded up for. He was a local product and was excited about the potential chance to return to New York.
Throughout the process, it was clear that the Knicks had the most assets to build a trade package with. They were a perfect match for the Jazz when it came to assets, but it proved to be far from perfect when it came to the actual negotiators.
Danny Ainge is a notoriously difficult person to make trades with. He is laser-focused on winning the trade and getting exactly what he is looking for. In this scenario, he was looking for as many draft picks as he could muster.
Leon Rose, armed with eight tradable draft picks, was willing to part with some. The Knicks reportedly offered as many as three early on in the process and two in their latest offer with light protection on a third.
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When you combine that with the young players that were made available, as RJ Barrett was on the table after not being involved early on, it seemed like New York still had the inside track to getting a deal done. When Barrett and the Knicks agreed to an extension on Monday, effectively taking him off the table, the Knicks never got another chance to negotiate.
When talks ended between Ainge and Rose that night, Ainge shifted his focus to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who ultimately ended up with Mitchell. The Cavaliers traded Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, who agreed to a four-year, $72 million contract as part of the deal, and Ochai Agbaji, the No. 14 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Along with the three players, the Cavaliers will be sending three unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 and pick swaps in 2026 and 2028.
There are a lot of people that will have hot takes about LOL Knicks, but that isn’t the case in this situation. It can be argued that the final offer that Rose made of Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, two unprotected first-round picks, a top-five protected third pick from the Knicks, two pick swaps, the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick and two second-round picks was too much for a team in their position to surrender.
Past regimes would have gone that extra step, surrendering more assets and giving into Ainge’s demands. But, that would have crippled the franchise for years to come. New York, from a basketball perspective, isn’t close to Cleveland.
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The Cavaliers had two All-Stars in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen last season. Evan Mobley was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year and looks like not only a future All-Star but future All-NBA Team member. They are now adding a fourth incredible core member in Mitchell.
The Knicks, on the other hand, had zero All-Stars last season. They will be better with Jalen Brunson manning the point guard position, just as they would have been better with Mitchell being added to the backcourt. But, given the current position they are in, they did not make a mistake with the trade talks.
One thing you could say that was a mistake was allowing it to drag on this long. They could have spent the last few weeks focusing on other moves to reshape the roster and improve the future outlook, but when a 25-year-old, three-time All-Star is available, it is understandable that your attention is focused on that.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers & New York Knicks Updates
Given some of the reported offers that the Knicks made, they are lucky that Danny Ainge was seemingly negotiating out of spite and turning down offers asking for more. It is slightly concerning that Rose and company proposed some of the packages that they did, as they were saved from themselves.
The Knicks valued their young players as they drew a line in the sand with some of them when it came to negotiations. Now, it is time to give them prominent roles in the rotation and see what they got. There are still moves to be made this offseason, as trade talks should continue as New York looks to open up as many minutes as possible to go all-in on their youth movement.
