KSL UNRIVALED
Unrivaled: Danny Ainge Is Doing His Job By Getting Under The Skin Of New York Media
SALT LAKE CITY – Signs point toward Donovan Mitchell potentially being traded to the New York Knicks.
All the rumors and reports have these two connected but the hold-up seems to be how much compensation Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz can get for trading a franchise-type player. One player at the center of all of this is R.J. Barrett who could help the Jazz during the rebuild.
Man god is good🙏🏾
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) July 21, 2022
Saying that Ainge was able to get a lot for trading Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves is an understatement. The Jazz ended up landing Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Balmaro, and rookie Walker Kessler, plus they are getting unprotected first-round picks in 2023, 2025, and 2027. Then a 2029 first-round pick that is top-five protected and swapping the 2026 first-round draft picks.
So, it makes a lot of sense for the Jazz to want an even bigger haul for Mitchell. The Knicks are desperate but they have not given into the Jazz demands which with the latest reports say they want the Knicks to send over seven first-round draft picks.
The New York Media does not want to get fleeced by Ainge and that led to former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, who is part of Boomer & Gio on WFAN in New York City, to call Ainge some unflattering names.
“Over the weekend the story came out, and someone joked they even want the Statue of Liberty in this thing,” Esiason said on WFAN, “and this is why I was saying last week that the Knicks shouldn’t panic. While I want to see it done, you have to be realistic about it – and Danny Ainge right now is just being a d*****.”
Hearing Esiason go nuts over the Jazz wanting to better their team is quite hilarious because any team in a position of power would want to get as much as possible, and if it were reversed, the Knicks would be doing the exact same thing. It could be that New York is slowly starting to get things turned around by signing Jalen Brunson to a massive deal worth $104 million, plus they have Barrett who they want to keep on their roster and not give up in a potential Mitchell deal. The Knicks have a lot of draft capital but they might give up the majority of that for Mitchell.
Ainge is just doing his job and UnRivaled’s Alex Kirry loves that the Jazz are sticking it to a very desperate Knicks team that has not been good and has only made the playoffs seven times this century.
“The fact that the New York media and Danny Ainge is getting under people’s skin means he’s doing his job to an A-plus level,” Kirry said. “They already landed the biggest trade of the off-season with the Rudy Gobert deal, and so if they were able to get another four, five, six picks that they were asking or whatever it was. Keep it going. In New York, they just look at it like they’re desperate.”
The Jazz can be patient with this deal and ask for whatever they want to try to get the best deal possible for this rebuild. Ainge is not being greedy but he is being savvy in this deal. Ainge has done this before as he pretty much fleeced the Brooklyn Nets which led to this current Boston Celtics team that was in the NBA Finals this season.
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