NBA Trade Rumors: Is Donovan Mitchell a worthy all-in target for the Knicks?
NBA Trade Rumors: Exploring whether Donovan Mitchell is a worthy all-in target for the New York Knicks.
Over the past few years, the New York Knicks have been working to get to a position where they find themselves this offseason. A position in which the Knicks could cash in all the assets that they’ve accumulated and groomed over the past few seasons for a superstar that could help this team win a championship.
The primary target that, at least for the Knicks, makes sense on multiple levels is Donovan Mitchell.
For as good as Kevin Durant is, he doesn’t fall in line with New York’s timeline. Neither does Kyrie Irving, really. But Mitchell is young enough where he’d fit in with New York’s timeline and good enough where he would significantly raise the Knicks’ chances of winning a title sooner rather than later.
However, the question remains, is Mitchell the one asset that will be able to turn New York’s fortunes around?
The Knicks haven’t won an NBA Championship since 1973. They haven’t made the NBA Finals since 1999. They have only made the playoffs four times in the last 18 years. They have only one playoff series win in the last 22 years.
For the Knicks to offer the entire asset chest to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Mitchell, that would have to mean he’s going to resurrect the franchise. And not only resurrect the franchise but be the ace of the new era (and hopefully a successful one) of Knicks basketball.
New York would have to be sure of it.
In the recent past, the Knicks have been burned time and time again with these types of deals. The most popular of such was when the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony back in 2011. New York went all-in on Melo and it simply didn’t work out.
They could not build around him and the move resulted in one playoff series win during Melo’s seven seasons in New York. The Knicks can’t make that mistake again.
And if they burn the majority of their draft picks for the foreseeable future between pick swaps and straight-up trades, that means New York will have to build through free agency. It’s reported that the Knicks would also have to give up a good portion of their valuable young pieces not named RJ Barrett.
In other words, the Knicks will likely be giving up their farm system and control of their draft for the next 4-5 seasons for a core of Mitchell, Barrett, and Jalen Brunson – the Knicks would likely try to move Julius Randle after a trade for Mitchell is completed.
Mitchell has to be that guy. And while he’s flashed being that guy before, he hasn’t been consistently over the past two seasons.
It was reported just a few weeks ago that the Knicks were hesitant to deal major draft capital to land a star. However, from all indications, it seems like that has changed. The Knicks appear all-in on Mitchell and on the verge of landing him.
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It appears that the Knicks have already made the decision. That Mitchell is worthy of going all-in. Question is, how will it pay off this time around for New York?