What initially seemed to be a normal Monday night turned into a celebration for New York Knicks fans as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that RJ Barrett was finalizing an extension with New York.
Now, it wasn’t the five-year, $185 million max that some believed that he deserved, but instead a four-year, $120 million extension with $107 of it being guaranteed. The 22-year-old officially snapped the Charlie Ward curse by being the first Knicks first-round draft pick since 1999 to sign a multi-year extension.
It’s a move that fans were waiting for, however, the circumstances that led to the extension weren’t expected. Woj reported that Leon Rose had set a deadline of Monday night for the Utah Jazz to come to an agreement on a Donovan Mitchell trade, or else New York would go ahead and sign Barrett to an extension.
Barrett’s name had been floating around in rumors, but fans assumed that the Knicks wouldn’t dare trade a key piece of their future, even if it would mean receiving a three-time All-Star. But Woj revealed that Barrett “was a staple of several different trade variations.” The poison pill provision in RJ’s new deal makes it very difficult to trade him, but nevertheless, he could still be included in a trade.
Thankfully, on the latest episode of Jake Fischer’s ‘Please Don’t Aggregate This’, Fischer said that based on conversations that he had on Wednesday, it’s “virtually impossible” for RJ Barrett to be included in a Donovan Mitchell trade.
The full episode of ‘Please Don’t Aggregate This’ with @Herring_NBA is recorded and up on @getcallin, Apple, and Spotify.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) August 31, 2022
A dissection of the Knicks-Jazz talks that broke down on Monday night, impact of the RJ Barrett extension, and much more: https://t.co/CKdsHsScZ8
It’s “virtually impossible” for Knicks’ RJ Barrett to now be included in a Donovan Mitchell deal
Yes, RJ Barrett’s the most valuable piece on the Knicks, but the Jazz being interested in him in the first place didn’t make a lot of sense. Since he was due for a payday, that should’ve been enough to keep Utah away as it prepares to enter a rebuilding phase. But Danny Ainge is known for his high demands and the Jazz reportedly considered the option of trading for, and paying, Barrett.
However, Fischer said that New York had included Barrett in its recent trade offers instead of offering up more picks, and instead of Utah keeping Barrett, the Jazz were going to “most likely” move him to another team. So it seems as if Utah wasn’t interested in making Barrett a key part of its future, but were instead interested in what the team could get in return for him. That sounds a lot more like Danny Ainge.
Although one of the Knicks’ latest offers prior to Monday night reportedly included Barrett and two unprotected first-round picks, the right move was to extend him. Who knows, maybe it was all a ploy by Leon Rose.
As Fischer said, including RJ in a trade would make things complicated. And according to Woj, Utah doesn’t have traction in trade talks with any teams other than New York, so the Knicks are still believed to be the landing spot for Donovan Mitchell.
Fans should be able to breathe a sigh of relief that Ainge’s reported plans for Barrett didn’t work out, but many are ready for this to all be over. Those wishes could very well end up being granted this month.
3 things to know about RJ Barrett’s four-year extension with Knicks
On Monday night, RJ Barrett finalized a four-year, $120 million extension with the Knicks, and here's 3 things that you need to know.