Knicks would be wise to pass on Donovan Mitchell if price is too high
Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz controls the ball during the first quarter against the Nets at Barclays Center on March 21. Credit: Jim McIsaac
During my August vacation, the Knicks were rumored to be working on a trade for Donovan Mitchell and the Nets were trying to find a way to keep Kevin Durant happily in place.
So in my absence, we missed . . . nothing?
Well, there were some updates. Durant has come to a peaceful resolution with the Nets after summit meetings got him to back down on his reported demands to be traded or to at least fire Steve Nash and Sean Marks. And the Knicks reportedly have re-engaged the Utah Jazz in talks about a deal for Mitchell. But it’s still more of the same, and maybe that’s a good thing for both teams.
For the Knicks, the Mitchell question has loomed not just this summer but basically since the day this front office took over. With Danny Ainge orchestrating a makeover in Utah that has him fielding offers for the three-time All-Star guard, making Mitchell’s long-rumored desire to play in New York, near his hometown (and the Mets, where his father is part of the organization), suddenly seem to be close to reality.
And that might mean that Knicks president Leon Rose is facing the biggest decision of his tenure with the organization.
Rose and his front office have had wins — the Walt Perrin segment of the draft has uncovered late first-round talent in Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley — and bringing in Tom Thibodeau brought the 2020-21 Knicks back to the playoffs.
And there have been questionable moves — the trade for Cam Reddish and the odd one in which a longtime agent seemingly was beaten while bidding against himself with a contract (hello, Mitchell Robinson). If the members of the front office weren’t hiding, maybe they’d explain the reason why the line has been drawn at RJ Barrett thus far.
But now Rose must decide the price to pay for Mitchell — not in dollars but in his stock of carefully curated assets.
The Knicks have what Ainge wants — young players with reasonable contracts and a boatload of draft picks. It is a package that few other interested parties possess, even if more suitors may emerge with Durant deals off the table for the moment.
But just how high that price is — particularly when Mitchell doesn’t seem like the piece that fits to lift the Knicks to contending status, or even assure them of a playoff berth — is the question that Rose faces.
We know that Rose is adept at negotiating deals; see his history of massive contracts landed while at CAA. But if there ever is a call for calm, this is it. The Knicks have a chance to get a star, but it is undeniably an odd fit after they signed another undersized guard.
While Mitchell played with a 6-1 backcourt partner, Mike Conley Jr., in Utah, he had shooters all around the floor offensively and the best shot-blocker in the game on the defensive end. In New York, Mitchell might look like part of a rugby scrum as he fights for control of the ball with Julius Randle, Barrett and Jalen Brunson.
Acquiring talent is crucial when you’re building, and the Knicks, in the wake of last season’s disappointment, clearly are still building. So the sense of some NBA officials is you acquire the talent and worry about the fit later, using other pieces to make moves.
But what if that move means dealing away Brunson, who not only is the sort of leader on and off the court that the team has craved but has his long family ties to the front office? Awkward, no?
The Knicks can’t use all of the picks they have stockpiled (and of course, many won’t actually convey to them with potential picks from Dallas, Detroit and Washington next summer all having some protections), but that doesn’t mean they should stuff them all into a package for Ainge to jump-start his rebuild.
The Knicks could be patient and use them in other deals or package them to move up in the draft — or to pay for their own mistakes, as they did this summer in attaching them to Kemba Walker and Nerlens Noel to move them off the books.
After all of this, a summer filled with rumors, could the Knicks just head into the season with the roster as is and expect all to be forgotten?
Well, yes. After all, the Nets are heading to camp with Durant and Kyrie Irving on board with the coach that Durant wanted out, and even if you consider Irving’s old line that some nights he’ll be the coach, it’s just weird.
So Barrett playing without a new contract extension or Randle or Evan Fournier or any of the young players back after rumors, that seems like a small bit of “basketball is a business” reality.
So patience seems like the order of the day. Despite the occasional word that there are multiple teams making offers, Mitchell is still in place with the Jazz and, like the Durant deals, no one seems willing to overpay. The Knicks shouldn’t do it, either.
If they can get Mitchell at the right price, it makes sense. Did we mention that the Knicks will be better than last year just by having Derrick Rose back? Or that with Brunson they already have upgraded their backcourt?
If the price is too high, it’s fine to head to camp just as they are.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
