Donovan Mitchell isn’t concerned about a possible Knicks trade quite yet
New York Knicks fans have been holding tight to the idea of either Donovan Mitchell or Jalen Brunson making their way to The Big Apple in time for the 2022-23 season.
Brunson and the Mavericks handed Mitchell and the Jazz a first-round playoff exit, which is what Utah was hoping to avoid. It might be time to break apart Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Both players are signed with the Jazz through the 2024-25 season with a player option in 2025-26.
If Utah decides to blow things up, or if one (or both) of the players decides to request a trade, there’s a possibility that Mitchell could land in New York. A first-round exit was rumored to accelerate his desire on wanting to request a trade, but according to him, he wants to remain with the Jazz and isn’t thinking about his future yet.
Can you blame him? Mitchell was fresh off a heartbreaking loss and even if he has the slightest desire to leave Utah, that doesn’t mean that he wanted to lose to Dallas. Nor does it mean that he’s going to admit it in a postgame press conference.
Donovan Mitchell said “yeah” when asked if he wanted to be in Utah. Asked about discussion around NBA he could ask for a trade, he said in part: “I’ll think about it in a week and go from there, but right now, I’m not really thinking about any of that.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 29, 2022
His full answer: pic.twitter.com/sIURXszDcC
Donovan Mitchell isn’t yet worried about his possible future with the Knicks.
After a disappointing 9-point performance (0-of-7) in a 102-77 loss to the Mavericks in Game 5, Mitchell followed that up with 23 points (9-of-17), 9 assists, and 8 rebounds in Game 6.
Like Mitchell said, as soon as the final buzzer sounded on Thursday night, the first thing that popped into his mind wasn’t the idea of a trade. As a competitor, he was focused on winning and it stung that the Jazz came up short.
Based on his words, Knicks fans are going to have to wait a week to see how Mitchell feels about his future. It’s interesting that the guard didn’t downright shoot down the idea that he could ask for a trade, but instead left the door open for further discussion.
If New York’s front office is interesting in trading for the 3-time All-Star, that’s something that they surely noticed. And Mitchell’s said that he’ll base his future decisions around his family, and in case you don’t know this, his father is an executive for the New York Mets.
Mitchell’s a Mets superfan, so if he were to join the Knicks, he would get to wear orange and blue and be within driving distance of Citi Field. Of course, he won’t base his future solely on that, but it’d come as an added bonus.
New York City’s going to be on Mitchell watch for the next seven days or so. Anything that he does on social media is going to turn every Knicks fan into a detective. And if the time comes where Mitchell makes it known that he’d like to leave Utah, it’d be best to go ahead and prepare for it now.
