Throughout the summer, the New York Knicks had been linked as a possible trade partner for Donovan Mitchell, but failed to make a deal, with the Cleveland Cavaliers trading for Donovan Mitchell.
After being considered the frontrunner for much of the summer, why didn’t the Knicks end up with Mitchell?
A new report from Adrian Wojnarowski looks at why a deal between the Jazz and Knicks didn’t work.
“New York had the assets Utah preferred and the sides seemed to be inching closer to a trade Sunday night and into Monday, but the Knicks balked on including Quentin Grimes in a trade with RJ Barrett to acquire Mitchell, sources said,” Wojnarowski wrote.
“When guard Immanuel Quickley was proposed as a replacement for Grimes in the trade, Utah wanted three unprotected first-round draft picks as part of the package — but New York would only do a third first-round pick that included top-five protections, sources said. Those packages would’ve included two second-round picks, two pick swaps and two expiring contracts from a third team, sources said,” per Wojnarowski
The Knicks signed Barrett to a four-year extension, worth up to $120 million, on Tuesday, which added a “poison pill” that would have “forced” the Jazz and Knicks to restart talks, per Wojnarowski.
After that, the Jazz resumed talks with Cleveland, which had been ongoing last week.
“New York planned to continue pursuing Mitchell, sources said, but the Jazz pivoted to the Cleveland discussions and never again engaged the Knicks in talks this week.”