RJ Barrett Update

RJ Barrett is a free agent now and has been since July 1st. So what’s going on with him and the New York Knicks?

Well, most of it is probably just normal negotiations and the Knicks trying to do their due diligence and to figure out their cap issues before signing him.

And there have been consistent rumblings about trades. They’re rumors of course, and Barrett has established himself as one of the most important Knicks and a fan favorite.

But these are the Knicks, and they’ve shown they can screw anything up.

Maybe not this time though.

Utah and the Knicks are talking about a Donovan Mitchell trade but we’ve seen several times that the Knicks want to hang on to Barrett and his impending contract is probably going to discourage Utah, which is in full rebuild mode now.

This article suggests that Danny Ainge is pushing for cheaper young players and multiple draft picks, which would certainly rule Barrett out. It’s hard to imagine him getting eight picks, as this article suggests, but he’ll do okay because, well, he’s Ainge. He usually does.

Assuming Barrett and New York come to terms, he’s going to continue to emerge as the face of one of the NBA’s great franchises.

Now if they could just start winning again.