New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett is finalizing a four-year rookie extension that could be worth up to $120 million, his agent Bill Duffy of BDA Sports and WME Sports told ESPN on Monday, complicating the franchise’s offseason trade pursuit of Utah Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell.
Barrett’s deal — which makes him the youngest $100 million player in Knicks history at 22 years old — ends several weeks of trade discussions for Mitchell between New York and Utah, and forces the two organizations, if they choose, to start over talks with significantly different considerations because of the “poison pill” provision now in Barrett’s deal.
New York president of basketball operations Leon Rose set a Monday night deadline with Utah to reach an agreement on a trade for Mitchell or the Knicks would commit to the Barrett extension, sources said.
While the Jazz-Knicks trade talks intensified and the gap on deal points that included Barrett in the package tightened over the weekend and into Monday, there remained a gulf on reaching a trade for Mitchell, sources said. Once the Knicks and Jazz exhausted discussions Monday night, Rose and Duffy finalized the extension eligible to players out of the 2019 NBA draft class.
Barrett’s deal ends a remarkable 23-year drought for the Knicks: He’s the franchise’s first draft pick to agree to a multiyear contract extension after his rookie deal since Charlie Ward in 1999, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Barrett averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and three assists for the Knicks a season ago. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Duke, behind New Orleans’ Zion Williamson and Memphis’ Ja Morant.
Barrett is one of only five players in NBA history to amass 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 3-pointers before his 22nd birthday, joining Kobe Bryant, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
The Knicks did include Barrett in trade proposals for Mitchell, sources said, which is why the process to complete the extension lasted several additional weeks. Barrett was a staple of several different trade variations discussed, but hurdles remained Monday about the total of unprotected first-round picks in the deal and the inclusion of Knicks guard Quentin Grimes, sources said.
Nevertheless, the Jazz greatly valued Barrett as part of any Mitchell deal with New York, and a deal without him would require the Knicks to relinquish far more draft assets than they’ve shown a willingness to do, sources said.
Once the Knicks committed to Barrett’s extension, management became resigned to the fact that there’s a much more difficult path to an offseason deal to acquire Mitchell. Nevertheless, neither Utah or New York is ruling out restarting the talks before the start of training camps in late September, sources said.
The sides have been discussing a trade on and off since early July. Out of the 179 players in NBA history who’ve had the poison pill provision, only one — Devin Harris in 2008 — was moved.
For trade purposes, the poison pill is computed with a formula that would put the Knicks’ outgoing salary for a Barrett trade at $10.9 million but require the incoming salary for a team acquiring him to be $26.2 million. The restriction will be lifted on July 1.
For Barrett to be included in a trade to the Jazz, the Knicks would need to find a third team with salary-cap space to redirect Evan Fournier’s $37 million contract.
The Jazz aren’t seriously engaged elsewhere on a Mitchell deal now, sources said, which makes real the possibility that he could still be on the roster for the start of training camp.
The Jazz are committed to starting a rebuild after trading All-Star center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for five first-round picks in July. Mitchell, 25, is a three-time All-Star and greater New York native who would instantly become the franchise’s best player.
ESPN Front-Office Insider Bobby Marks contributed to this report.
The Lakers appear willing to get creative to try to shed Russell Westbrook and his massive $47 million contract before the start of the season.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported in his Sunday newsletter, per Yahoo Sports that if the Jazz choose to trade superstar Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks or any other team, there is a “decent chance” the Lakers would be involved as a third team.
Russell Westbrook and Donovan MitchellCharles Wenzelberg/N.Y. Post, Getty Images
According to Stein, the hope for Los Angeles would be to get quality role players back as their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks — the only ones the Lakers have under their control this decade — would be of interest to the pick-hungry Jazz. The Lakers, however, are only interested in trading those picks in a deal that would help make them a true NBA title contender after missing the postseason all together last season.
Having multiple teams involved would widen the talent pool they could pull from compared to a two-sided transaction. Stein offered up the hypothetical of Los Angles landing Bojan Bogdanovic from the Jazz and Evan Fournier from the Knicks and whether that would be enough to pry the picks from the Lakers.
The Knicks and Jazz, according to The Post’s Marc Berman are locked in a trade stalemate over the number of first-round picks that would be included in the potential package for Mitchell, while the Lakers traded for guard Patrick Beverley this past week. The deal signaled the possibility that Westbrook’s days in L.A. continuing to be numbered as the team has reportedly tried to deal him all offseason.
The uncertainty over Donovan Mitchell’s future doesn’t seem to be bothering him.
Though the three-time All-Star guard’s name has been bandied about in trade rumors, with the Knicks interested in landing the high-scoring standout and the rebuilding Jazz believed to be serious about moving him, Mitchell enjoyed a Saturday in Coney Island.
Mitchell took several rounds of batting practice and threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Brooklyn Cyclones’ game at Maimonides Park. He joked with reporters, signed autographs for fans and posed for photos as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
He had just one request.
“We’re not talking basketball,” the 25-year-old Elmsford, N.Y., native said. “Ain’t nobody talking basketball.”
The fans at the game, however, had other ideas. There were pleas for Mitchell to play for the Knicks. Several people in attendance had Knicks gear on. The word “Knicks” was used frequently.
“We want you to come to New York, Donovan,” one fan bellowed. “We need you in New York.”
Donovan Mitchell, who has been a subject of Knicks’ trade talks with the Jazz, throws out the first pitch before the Brooklyn Cyclones game.Joseph E. Amaturo
A kid, standing next to him, screamed: “Pleeeaaaaase.”
That drew a smile and a grin from Mitchell.
After he threw out the first pitch, and walked toward the dugout, the fans gave it another go.
“Come to the Knicks, Donovan Mitchell,” a man yelled. “Come to the Knicks.”
“We love you in New York, ‘Spida,’ ” another said.
Then, a brief “Go, New York, Go New York, Go,” chant broke out.
Mitchell is in limbo at the moment. The Jazz recently traded veterans Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale and are in the process of tearing down the Western Conference contender.
Knicks’ trade target Donovan Mitchell takes batting practice before the Brooklyn Cyclones game.Joseph E. Amaturo
New Utah CEO Danny Ainge made a killing in the Gobert deal, landing four first-round picks (three unprotected) and a pick swap, along with the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, center Walker Kessler, and quality players Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt in the blockbuster deal. There have been reports Ainge, in exchange for Mitchell, wants up to six first-round picks and young Knicks players Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Miles McBride and Quentin Grimes, a haul the Knicks have so far been unwilling to offer.
It’s no secret, however, that Knicks president Leon Rose, who was one of Mitchell’s agents, has an affinity for the guard. Mitchell has a friendship with new Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson through Brunson’s teammate at Villanova, NBA free agent Eric Paschall, and is close to Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant from their days together with the Jazz. He is represented by CAA, the agency Rose once ran. Mitchell grew up locally and now lives mostly in Greenwich, Conn., during the offseason.
It was a matter of coincidence that Mitchell was in New York City at the Cyclones’ game shortly after trade rumors began to heat up. This was planned well in advance. Mitchell has strong connections to the Cyclones and the Mets’ franchise. His father, Donovan Mitchell Sr., works for them now as their senior director of player relations and community outreach. As a child, Mitchell served as a bat boy for the Cyclones when his father was the team’s hitting coach.
Mitchell showed a pretty good swing in batting practice, hitting four home runs. He played baseball growing up, before focusing all of his energy on basketball early in high school. When he threw out the first pitch, Mitchell drilled a strike from the rubber — not the front of the mound as celebrities are known to do — but the catcher couldn’t squeeze it.
What that means for the Knicks’ pursuit of Mitchell remains unclear.
It appears a trade of Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks is more than a pipe dream.
Just over 24 hours after word leaked out that the rebuilding Jazz were listening to offers on the three-time All-Star guard, The Athletic reported Wednesday night that the Knicks have engaged Utah in talks on Mitchell. The Jazz are still talking to other teams, but the Knicks have become the “focused destination” in recent days.
On paper, the deal is a no-brainer.
Donovan Mitchell and Leon RoseGetty Images (2)
Mitchell is a difference-maker at only 25 years of age. He is a New Yorker who understands the pressure that comes with playing for the Knicks, and is repped by CAA, the agency Knicks president Leon Rose once ran. He even has a relationship with the newest Knick, Jalen Brunson, due to a common close friend, NBA free agent Eric Paschall.
But connections alone won’t get it done this time, not like the courtship of Brunson, the former Mavericks star who signed as a free agent. To land Mitchell, it will take a haul. That could mean franchise building block RJ Barrett and other young players, such as Quentin Grimes. It likely would mean several first-round draft picks.
As much as Rose and the Knicks may want Mitchell, the price could be exorbitant.
Remember, the Jazz recently received four first-round picks (three unprotected) and a pick swap from the Timberwolves for Rudy Gobert, a solid player but not as valued as Mitchell.
They also landed quality players Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, along with the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, center Walker Kessler, in the blockbuster deal.
The Knicks own 11 first-round picks over the next seven years, and the Jazz are reportedly interested in accumulating draft picks.
SALT LAKE CITY — Four players were ejected after Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner got into a scuffle late in the Indiana Pacers’ 111-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.
The tussle began after Gobert appeared to pull Turner down to the ground with him after Turner blocked his shot at the rim with just over four minutes left in the game. Turner responded by shoving Gobert in the back, which led the Jazz center to bear hug Turner and try to wrestle him to the floor.
Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles joined the fray as members of both teams converged near the Jazz bench. Gobert, Turner, Mitchell and Ingles were all ejected.
Turner blamed the scuffle on Gobert knocking him to the floor after the initial play.
“I had to stand up for myself in that situation,” Turner said. “I don’t think I did anything wrong. But that’s not for me to decide. We’ll talk to the league and see what happens from there.”
Mitchell scored 26 points and Gobert added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Mitchell pinned the scuffle on built-up frustration over the referees allowing too much contact early in the game.
“That whole thing could have been avoided — just draw the line early, as opposed to letting it build up for the whole game,” Mitchell said.
Gobert said that the officials “allow guys to do way too much s—” but noted that he didn’t feel like it was a situation where he needed to throw a punch.
“If I don’t feel threatened I’m not gonna throw a punch and get suspended and hurt my team so I didn’t feel no threat at all and I’m not gonna fight on the basketball court,” Gobert said. “But if someone wants to fight I’m easy to reach. I’m very easy to reach. I’m just not going to do it on social media, like if anyone got a problem, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, easy.”
Mitchell got off to a fast start and gave the Jazz an early boost. But after Bojan Bogdanovic drove for a layup to give Utah a 42-38 lead midway through the second quarter, the Pacers held the Jazz to just four baskets over the final 6 ½ minutes before halftime. Meanwhile, Indiana crashed the boards and repeatedly scored second-chance baskets to go back in front.
The Pacers closed the half on an 11-3 run punctuated by back-to-back baskets from T.J. McConnell and took a 60-51 lead.
Gobert scored 11 points in the third quarter to help the Jazz briefly rally. Turner and Malcolm Brogdon combined to make three 3-pointers on three straight possessions to quell the run and extend the Pacers’ lead back to 83-74.
Utah drew no closer than five points in the fourth quarter and had any comeback hopes dashed with the ejections of Mitchell and Gobert late in the quarter. The loss was Utah’s first at home this season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
Members of the Utah Jazz feared for their lives after the team’s charter plane collided with a flock of birds shortly after takeoff Tuesday, causing an engine fire and failure and forcing an emergency landing.
“For a good 10 or 15 minutes, I think all of us on that flight were questioning if we were going to be here today,” Jazz point guard Mike Conley said after Wednesday night’s 111-107 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. “That’s how serious it was for us. I can’t speak for everybody, but I know that guys were trying to text family just in case, you know? It was that kind of situation.”
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell missed Wednesday’s game due to what the team termed “personal reasons.” Mitchell, who has discussed a fear of flying in the past, did not join the team on its flight from Salt Lake City, to Memphis that took off hours after the emergency landing.
“It got to that point where we were all on the plane like, ‘This might be really the end,'” Jazz sixth man Jordan Clarkson said. “I mean, it was a crazy situation. I understand fully why Don didn’t come.”
Mitchell playfully tweeted support of his teammates throughout the win over the Grizzlies.
During his pregame media availability, Utah coach Quin Snyder declined to answer a question about whether Tuesday’s frightening incident could impact Mitchell’s availability for future road games. The Jazz, who have a home back-to-back this weekend, are next scheduled to play on the road Monday in Dallas.
Snyder said the Jazz met Wednesday morning in Memphis to help each other process the terrifying experience.
“I don’t know that an experience like that is just suddenly passed on and away,” Snyder said. “Everybody’s impacted in different ways, all very significant. And it wasn’t something that we were going to solve by just talking through everything, but I think it was important to acknowledge what we all went through [Tuesday], and, really, that same feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the fragility that we all live with, sometimes without being aware of it.”
Conley said it felt like there was an explosion on the plane, a Delta charter. He said the plane immediately started to bounce and tilt left, and people in the back saw flames as altitude dropped on the flight.
“Nobody knows. Everybody’s just quiet,” said Conley, who had 26 points and seven assists in the win over the Grizzlies. “It took the pilots probably five to 10 minutes, probably about 10 minutes, to go through everything, go through their checks and get back to us and let us know what was going on. Because it was obvious that something was really wrong with the plane.
“It felt like the plane was breaking apart in midair. For five or 10 minutes, it felt like complete helplessness. We’re thankful it wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but it was scary.”
Snyder, Clarkson and Conley each praised the pilots for their calm, professionalism and expertise in executing the emergency landing.
“It’s definitely something, an experience, that we’re happy to be able to tell,” Clarkson said. “A lot of us really came to a point … at least 30 seconds in that flight, everybody came to the point where it was like, ‘Man, it might be over for us.’ It’s sad to say that. I don’t play with death or anything like that.
“It’s just something that we’ve got to push through and come together and keep going, stay strong, support each other. How much time we’ve got to take off, or talking to our mental health people or whatever it is, that’s a serious situation if you’ve never been faced with life and death.”
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo certainly didn’t enjoy suffering a 129-115 loss to the Utah Jazz at Vivint Arena on Friday night, but he couldn’t help but admire how “simple” the game looked to them.
More important, the Jazz earned his respect: Antetokounmpo said they’re the “best team in the West.”
Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA MVP, finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, after being held to two first-half points — his fewest in any half this season.
And after witnessing the Jazz have four 25-point scorers for the first time in franchise history, Antetokounmpo felt a personal connection to what was happening before his eyes.
“It just looks fun. Like when I watch them play, it looks fun, it looks easy,” Antetokounmpo said. “It looks simple. For sure, they look like us last year, and man, when you’re at that point and you’re playing with that confidence you’re hard to beat for sure.”
Like last season’s Bucks, the Jazz (21-5) have the best record in the NBA. They’ve won 17 of their past 18 games, with the first victory of that stretch also coming against the Bucks on Jan. 8.
Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles had 27 points apiece, and Donovan Mitchell added 26 points with eight assists and six rebounds. Jordan Clarkson went for 25 points off the bench.
Ingles said they would take a minute to celebrate the victory, but then after that it would be back to business.
“I don’t think we’re that satisfied just yet,” said Ingles, who went 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
That’s because their goals are much bigger than the regular season, especially after last season, when they blew a 3-1 lead to Denver and were eliminated in the first round.
“We don’t want to be the best team in February, we want to be the best team in July,” Mitchell said.
Being respected in the top role is still something new for Mitchell and his teammates. As the leaders in Utah, Mitchell’s and Gobert’s paths to becoming an NBA All-Stars were not always written in stone, and they’ve developed an underdog mentality that has carried over to the team.
“It’s different in my four years. You look at all of us and each individual story … [we were] underrated,” Mitchell said. “I think now we’re at a point where people are coming at us, and the way we’ve responded to that is very impressive. I think there’s a lot more we can do to continue to get better, but it doesn’t hurt to be in the moment and understand that what we’re doing is pretty cool.”
The road doesn’t get much easier for Utah, with the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers and back-to-back games against the LA Clippers up next. Then it’s Charlotte on Feb. 22 followed by the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 24 and the Heat again Feb. 26.
Although the emphasis might not be on the regular season, the Jazz know they can’t bypass it either.
However, Jazz coach Quin Snyder says, “nobody is beating their chest about anything that we’ve done.”
“Frankly you never want to do that and it’s never appropriate unless you’re the last team standing,” Snyder said. “That’s something we’ll continue to try to avoid.”
When the Utah Jazz reconvened for training camp in December, they’d had three months to think about how the prior season had ended: with Mike Conley’s potential game-winning 3-pointer somehow spinning out against the Denver Nuggets.
During those three months, the Jazz thought over and over again about that shot rimming out, about the 3-1 lead they’d blown in that series, about failing to make it out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs for a second straight season. And they came back for the start of this campaign determined to make sure things would go differently this time around.
“I really feel like we came back this year with a purpose,” Utah center Rudy Gobert said. “I really feel like we have a chip on our shoulder, and we need that if we are going to do what we want to do this year.”
After their latest victory Tuesday night, a 122-108 decision over the visiting Boston Celtics, the Jazz are now an NBA-best 20-5 this season and have won 16 of their past 17 games.
And unlike the other teams floating around them at the top of the NBA ecosystem — the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers — Utah doesn’t have a true superstar on its roster. Instead, the thing that has carried the Jazz to this point through a third of the season is an ensemble cast that is working in perfect harmony.
The result is a team that is playing as well as any other in the league and is steamrollering through its opponents on a nightly basis.
“Anytime you see a team kind of mold itself for the players and coaches, that’s gratifying,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “When you have a team that collectively tries to play a certain way, and is committed to that, I think that’s what we have.”
Part of the commitment the Jazz have comes from the way last season ended. The entire 2019-20 campaign, frankly, was a challenge for Utah. The team expected to make a push forward last year after trading for Conley, only for him to struggle mightily to adjust to playing on a team other than the Memphis Grizzlies for the first 12 years of his career. Then the Jazz added Jordan Clarkson to boost their bench scoring during the season — only to lose starting forward Bojan Bogdanovic for the team’s time in the Florida bubble due to wrist surgery.
And all of that, of course, pales in comparison to Utah being at the center of the league shutting down last March for several months after Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, the team’s two stars, tested positive for COVID-19.
But rather than all of that — as well as Utah’s heartbreaking loss to Denver — causing the Jazz to splinter apart, it instead sent them into the offseason determined to create something better.
“I think, you know, the biggest thing that went into it was just our motivation over the offseason,” Mitchell said. “Guys coming in. I look at Royce [O’Neale]. People don’t look at Royce because we don’t play on TV, but you look at Royce, and he came in the best shape of his career this year. The determination in that sense. You see the product on the floor, but I think the biggest thing is what you see off the floor.
“He and I went to Miami and worked out three or four weeks straight. The things I saw him do, I haven’t seen him do in his four years. Not to say he doesn’t work hard, but he took it to another level.”
“I think that is where we saw the difference. We saw the work ethic take another leap,” Mitchell explained.
What else has helped the Jazz has been that, in a season when so many things are up in the air for so many teams, Utah knows exactly what it is and what it wants to be.
After his initial growing pains last season, Conley — who currently is out with a hamstring injury — played better in the bubble, and he has been outstanding to start this season. Bogdanovic has returned from his wrist surgery and is beginning to round into form. Joe Ingles is shooting career-high percentages across the board. And Clarkson is the runaway leader, at the moment, to win the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. Meanwhile, the one prominent player Utah added during the offseason — big man Derrick Favors — had spent the vast majority of his first nine seasons in Utah before being dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans last offseason, leaving him extremely familiar with what it was the Jazz would want him to do.
And, of course, the team has seen continued excellent play from its stars. Gobert remains the league’s premier defensive player, anchoring a Jazz unit that, despite adding more offensive-minded players in recent years, still ranks third in the NBA. Mitchell, on the other hand, entered Tuesday shooting a career-best 41.6% from 3-point range — and that was before going 6-for-13 from the 3 line as part of his game-high 36 points.
Despite Mitchell’s shooting exploits, it was telling after the game that the thing he, Snyder and Gobert all talked about instead was Mitchell’s decision-making: Playing point guard for the injured Conley, he had nine assists and just two turnovers in 36 minutes.
“Decision-making,” Gobert said, when asked where Mitchell’s biggest improvement has been this season. “He’s really able to understand the tempo of the game and be able to find his teammates.
“I think he’s improved every single year, but this year is really the year it’s advanced — and when he does that, the team just goes to another level.”
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Donovan Mitchell pulls up to sink a 3-pointer and draws the foul on Tristan Thompson to go to the free throw line.
The Jazz know what level they want to reach this season. It has been 13 years since Utah last reached the Western Conference finals, when Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer led them there in 2008 and they lost to the Lakers. It’s been 23 years since Utah last reached the NBA Finals, when John Stockton and Karl Malone lost to the Chicago Bulls for a second straight season.
Time will tell if Utah has the ability to reach that level, though the numbers at least give them a fighting chance. Utah is the only team in the league in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The only others in the top 10 in both categories? The Lakers and Bucks. And while questions will still linger about whether the Jazz will have difficulty slowing down teams that can draw Gobert away from the rim, Utah’s added punch offensively — the Jazz are leading the NBA in 17 3-pointers made per game — give them a balance they didn’t previously have.
And for those who are unsure of how high Utah’s ceiling is ultimately, the Jazz will have plenty of opportunities over the next couple of weeks to make their case. Starting with Tuesday’s win over Boston, the Jazz have a stretch of eight out of nine games against some of the league’s elite teams: the Celtics, Bucks, Miami Heat (twice), Sixers, Lakers and Clippers (twice).
Ultimately, though, the Jazz aren’t worried about what happens over the next two weeks. Instead, it’s about being ready for what lies even further ahead — and to make sure they don’t have the same bitter taste in their mouths at the end of this season that they did when leaving Orlando in September.
“I think the biggest thing is just focusing on what we do,” Mitchell said. “This is the first game of a big stretch we’ve got coming up, and we’ve just got to focus on the little details. We have teams [scheduled] that have high-level players, deep playoff experience, and we just have to go out there and do what we do.
“It’s not like we’re saying this is a make-or-break stretch for us. … We’re not playing to be ready by February … we’re playing to be ready in [July]. That’s when we have to have our best product, and these are good tests for us.”
