The New York Knicks once again failed to make a splash this offseason, missing out on the chance to land Donovan Mitchell. The New Yorkers appeared to be the clear-cut favorites to land Spida, but things didn’t work in their favor, and the Cleveland Cavaliers took advantage of that, landing the All-Star player last week.
It was a couple of pretty intense months, as Mitchell was the second-best player on the trade block behind Kevin Durant. While Durant is staying in Brooklyn to run it back with the Nets, Mitchell is now part of a different team, ready to compete for bigger things than in Utah.
Meanwhile, the Knicks are still trying to get over this situation, but it seems like some people within the organization are having a hard time doing it. One executive, for instance, went off on the Jazz, calling them out for their huge demands for Mitchell.
New York Knicks Executive Calls Out Utah Jazz For Absurd Demands For Donovan Mitchell
Charles Barkley recently sat down for an interview with Sirius XM NBA Radio, where he revealed that one of the Knicks executives, William Wesley, wasn’t happy with how things went down for this failed trade, blasting the Jazz for their ridiculously high price for Mitchell.
Via SNY:
“I said Wes, why didn’t y’all make the [Mitchell] trade? He said, ‘Oh man, don’t go by the media stuff,” Barkley, a Hall of Famer and TNT analyst, said in the interview. “They wanted my wife, my kids…. We wanted the deal, obviously. But he said they wanted my wife, they wanted my kids, they wanted my grandkids. They were just trying to rip somebody off. So he said… ‘Dude, we’re going to have to pass on it.’ And I give those guys credit because you can’t give away everything for a guy. I like Donovan, he’s a very good player. It was the first time in a long time the Knicks actually [showed restraint].”
It’s pretty clear that the Jazz played their cards to get the best return for their star player. However, some say that Danny Ainge wanted to ‘rob’ New York, so it’s easy to see why this executive thinks the same. In the end, the Knicks couldn’t pull off their big plan and now will have to see Mitchell go off in Cleveland. They still signed Jalen Brunson and re-signed RJ Barrett, but these two aren’t enough to do what they could with Mitchell on the roster.
