Can the Knicks Land Donovan Mitchell?

Rick Pitino was on the golf course Wednesday when he offered up his insight on the Donovan Mitchell situation: “I know nothing.”

The head coach of Iona College was once the head coach of the Knicks, eons ago when they were chasing that elusive first championship since 1973.

Yes, the same one they are continuing to chase. And now, with the Utah Jazz open to trading their three-time All-Star, the Knicks are widely perceived to be the frontrunners, and their fans have hope.

But can Leon Rose pull this one off? And can the Knicks be a legitimate championship contender with a pair of 6-foot-1 players in their backcourt, assuming R.J. Barrett was the main piece they would be sending to the Jazz in any trade?

Those were the questions being asked around the NBA on Wednesday and Thursday as the offseason grew even more curious. Kevin Durant’s situation remains unresolved. Same goes for Kyrie Irving. And DeAndre Ayton. And more likely than not … a player to be named later.

Offshore sportsbooks listed the Knicks as even money favorites to be the landing spot for Mitchell, who grew up in Elmsford, N.Y. just a few miles from the Knicks’ practice facility and who many assume would love to come home to be the savior for the ‘Bockers that others, including Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, were once expected to be. One example of how Mitchell is such a prized local asset: He recently showed up with his mother at Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. and had all of the outdoor basketball courts painted. Nobody publicized this.

But being the savior of a franchise is one hell of a heavy load, and whether Mitchell would want to that burden is an open question. Still, it is not up to Mitchell. It is up to Jazz executives Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik, who pried five first-round picks and three staring-caliber players out of the Minnesota Timberwolves for 30-year-old Rudy Gobert.

Mitchell is five years younger and is an offensive beast, which means the price tag could be prohibitive. The Knicks have 11 first-round picks over the next seven years, and no NBA team can offer Utah that much draft capital going forward. But many of those picks are heavily protected, which mitigates their value, and the Knicks would have to put together enough of their current players to make the salaries match to comply with NBA trade rules.

Mitchell is due to make $30.35 million, and while the Knicks have cap space that could be used for some of Mitchell’s salary, the Jazz are going to want talent back, too. And while R.J. Barrett is considered one of the league’s better up-and-coming players, hanging onto him may be a priority for Rose, who would surely prefer to include some combination of Evan Fournier ($18 million), Cam Reddish and youngsters Immanuel Quickly, Quentin Grimes and Obi Toppin in order to outbid everyone else who wants Mitchell.

And rest assured, there are others.

The Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat are the most notable among those teams because they were getting mentioned on ESPN and across social media all day Wednesday. But there are two dozen other teams with championship aspirations, and when a player of Mitchell’s caliber comes on the market, everyone rechecks their timetables and priorities in order to see if they can jump start the process.

From a gambling standpoint, all we can discern for certain if that Utah to win the title is a wasted wager. Aside from that, it is a matter of assessing who has the best chance of adding Mitchell, and whether he would constitute the final piece of a championship puzzle.

Players of that caliber to not become available all that often on the trade market, and Ainge and Zanik are the ones driving this bus as they try to position the Jazz to have the best chance at landing French teenager Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 prospect who is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft.

Securing unprotected first-round picks is what would help get that done, and the only picks of that ilk that the Knicks could offer would be their own. And with the weak state of the NBA’s Eastern Conference, New York could very well be a playoff team next season whether or not they acquire Mitchell. The Knicks are currently +7000 to win the title. Utah is +12000.

So the process is complicated for Rose, who was Mitchell’s agent before he left the agent business and took over as president of the Knicks. And since Rose has no other assets that could bring an unprotected pick in return in a trade (no, Julius Randle does not have that kind of value), it diminishes the prospects of New York being Mitchell’s ultimate landing spot.

What this all means is that Rose must try to engineer a multi-team trade. And, he must be willing to sacrifice anyone on his roster with the exception of the recently signed Brunson and the recently re-signed Mitchell Robinson.

That is a very tall task, because the entire NBA knows that the Knicks simply do not have all that much All-Star caliber talent outside of Barrett. So while Knicks fans can wish and hope all they want, their team’s cupboard is rather bare.

It is a long summer, and NBA cap gurus and general managers are extraordinarily creative. But it says here that some other team will likely step to the plate with more than Rose is initially willing to offer. That is when Ainge/Zanik are going to play their hand of poker, and when Rose will have to discern whether it is a bluff and whether or not to raise. If he gets Mitchell, he is in a better place than he was without Mitchell. But he will still not be in a championship contender place.

It does not help Rose that the crosstown rival Nets have two very valuable trade chips in Durant and Irving that can be put into a multi-team dead that would net them Mitchell (provided that Ben Simmons would be an outgoing player in such a deal, because NBA salary cap rules prevent them from having two players on max-salary rookie extensions who have been acquired via a trade.)

At the end of the day, the Knicks have the most to offer in terms of volume, especially when it comes to draft picks. It is a question of how much Rose is willing to offer, and whether Ainge/Zanik believe there is such a thing as having too many draft assets. Not everyone is Sam Presti.

So stay tuned on this one, but stay away from wagering a single dollar on the Knicks winning next season’s championship. More than half the league has a better chance as presently constituted, and no sportsbook is offering odds on the 2024 title yet.