New York Knicks: Donovan Mitchell would help, but not an instant fix

The New York Knicks have been tied to Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell. While he would certainly be a drastic upgrade, New York would still have work to do.

According to The Athletic, the relationship between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert has broken and it “doesn´t appear salvageable.” Therefore, one of Utah’s All-Stars could leave the team, and that might be Donovan Mitchell.

As it was expected, one of the first teams that was attached to the 23-year-old All-Star was the New York Knicks. What would it take for the Knickerbockers to make it real?

The first thing we have to take in consideration is that Mitchell is under contract with the Utah Jazz through the 2021 season. That means, in order for the Knicks to get him, they will have to put together a package that would include players, draft picks or even both of them.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, an NBA executive thinks than the New York Knicks must include RJ Barrett or Mitchell Robinson and at least two first-round picks in order to start the negotiations.

That doesn’t sound like a good business for the Knickerbockers.

There’s no doubt that in the last two years the Knicks have had few good things, but Barrett and Robinson are two of those positives. Barrett has had ups and downs in his first NBA season, but he’s shown that he has the talent to be the leader of this team.

On the other hand, Robinson has emerged as one of the most productive players on the offensive side of the ball, and defensively, he’s the best in blocks for the team, fourth in defensive rebounds, and third in steals. He does all of this in just 23 minutes per game.

Having said that, the only thing that the Knickerbockers should consider to put over the table are draft picks, and the good news is that they have plenty. New York is on pace to have seven in the next two years and four of these are first-round picks.

To give draft picks in exchange for players is not always a good idea, but in this case, it can be worthy for the Knicks. As many experts have noted, this year’s draft class isn´t as good as previous classes, so if the Jazz were to accept assets in exchange for Mitchell, it would be a no-brainer for the Knicks.

Finally, it’s important to understand that, to land Donovan Mitchell does not solve the need of a point guard. Even though the Jazz occasionally use him as a playmaker, he’s actually a shooting guard.

He will look for the basket first and would not be the offensive commander that the team needs.

That doesn’t’t mean that the Knicks shouldn’t try to get him, but it’s important for the front office to understand that they would have to be aggressive during free agency in order to get the next point guard for the team.