NBA Rumors: Utah Jazz reject RJ Barrett package from New York Knicks

NBA Rumors: In one of the latest trade offers for Donovan Mitchell, the Utah Jazz rejected an RJ Barrett package from the New York Knicks.

There’s hope that the Utah Jazz trade Donovan Mitchell before the start of NBA Training Camps, but at least for now that’s no guarantee. Even less so considering the New York Knicks just gave RJ Barrett a huge contract extension.

But it wasn’t before the Jazz rejected a reported trade offer that centered around Barrett and picks from the Knicks.

Did the Utah Jazz reject the New York Knicks’ final offer for Donovan Mitchell?

It’s unclear if it was New York’s “final offer” to the Jazz or what the exact circumstances were, but this report was interesting timing considering the Barrett extension.

At least from the outside looking in, it appeared that the Knicks made one more effort to acquire Mitchell with a package centered around Barrett. Ultimately, it was not something that the Jazz was open to accepting.

In response, the Knicks decided to move forward with their non-Mitchell offseason plans. And that included signing Barrett to a contract extension.

And this is something that Barrett deserved too. He’s continued to improve as a two-way player and could be in line to jump into stardom. New York decided it was more important to take care of their to-do list rather than to continue to be strung along by Utah.

Credit to the Knicks. They took care of a player that deserved a new deal and a raise. And hey, if the Jazz circle around and decide they want to make this move (with Barrett included), they can revisit this down the line.

Barrett’s extension might complicate things between the Knicks and Jazz but it doesn’t end trade talks by any means.

If anything, this was the Knicks taking care of their needs before the start of training camp. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next for the Jazz in their pursuit of trading Mitchell.