The Knicks and forward RJ Barrett are finalizing a four-year rookie scale contract extension that could be worth up to $120MM, agent Bill Duffy tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The exact base value of Barrett’s new deal isn’t yet known, but Ian Begley of SNY.tv reports (via Twitter) that there are bonuses tied to All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive selections. In other words, it sounds like the former No. 3 overall pick would have to play at a very high level to earn the full $120MM.
A former star at Duke, Barrett has steadily increased his scoring average in his three NBA seasons with the Knicks, registering a career-high 20.0 PPG in 70 games (34.5 MPG) in 2021/22. He also contributed 5.8 RPG and 3.0 APG while shooting .408/.342/.714 last season. Those shooting marks were a step down from his career bests in ’20/21 (.441/.401/.746).
According to Wojnarowski, the Barrett extension will complicate the Knicks’ discussions with the Jazz about a potential Donovan Mitchell trade. Sources tell ESPN that those talks intensified over the weekend as the two teams made some progress, but there was still a gap between what each side was willing to do.
Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose set a Monday night deadline to either agree to a deal for Mitchell or commit to an extension for Barrett, per Wojnarowski, who notes that the “poison pill provision” will now almost certainly ensure that the former Blue Devil won’t be part of a package for Mitchell.
As we outline in our glossary entry, a player who signs a rookie scale extension but remains on his rookie contract has different outgoing and incoming salary-matching figures, which is referred to as a “poison pill” — in Barrett’s case, the gap between his outgoing and incoming figures will exceed $15MM, according to Wojnarowski. That would make it extremely challenging for both the Knicks and Jazz to send out and take back a legal amount of salary if Barrett is part of a package for Mitchell.
As Wojnarowski explains, Barrett was a “staple” in several of the proposals for Mitchell that the Jazz and Knicks discussed, with Utah highly valuing the 22-year-old. While New York had apparently been willing to include Barrett, the two teams were still at an impasse over the possible inclusion of Quentin Grimes and the number of unprotected first-round picks in the package, per ESPN.
It remains possible that the Knicks and Jazz will agree to a deal that doesn’t include Barrett, but that would require the Knicks to give up “far more” draft assets than they’ve been willing to surrender thus far, sources tell Wojnarowski.
For now, the two teams are backing off those trade talks, but the Jazz aren’t engaged in serious discussions with any other suitors about Mitchell, so neither they nor the Knicks have ruled out the possibility of resuming their talks before training camps begin in four weeks.
As Wojnarowski notes, Barrett’s extension will end an ignominious streak for the Knicks, as he’ll become the team’s first first-round pick since Charlie Ward in 1999 to sign a multiyear contract extension following his rookie deal.
Barrett will also become the fifth player to finalize a rookie scale extension this offseason. While his deal won’t be worth as much as the maximum-salary extensions signed by Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, and Darius Garland, it will exceed Keldon Johnson‘s four-year, $74MM contract.
Assuming Barrett’s new extension doesn’t include any options, it will keep him under team control through the 2026/27 season.
Good. I didn’t want RJ Barrett to be traded in any Mitchell trade anyways.
Yeah I totally fine with Mitchell going somewhere else. He’s a one dimensional player. Love RJ, he’s my favorite player on the Knicks, there was no need to ever part with him, so glad he’s staying. Trader Danny is impossible to deal with, good for him that he fleeced the T-Wolves or whatever, any trade with Mitchell going to the Knicks is likely going to involve the Lakers now. My preference from day 1 is to trade Grimes, not Toppin in a package. Grimes would never play with Brunson and Mitchell here anyway. Let’s make sense Knicks! Smh
The right decision. No point in negotiating against themselves for the sake of Danny Ainge’s ego. They can still blow away any other team’s offer for Mitchell. But they shouldn’t. All they have to do is top the next best offer. Which they can do without selling the farm.
I don’t think people realize how good Barrett is going to be playing with a real PG. Knicks will be glad they didn’t cave to Ainge’s delusions. Let’s see how long Mitchell plays nice before he demands a trade.
You don’t need him anyway.
Agreed – in fact, if Ainge is unwilling to lower his price, I don’t think it would be the worst thing for NY to open the season w/o Mitchell, just to see how RJB and Brunson click.
I’m not sure who the second serious suitor is here — I’m sure BK would love to get DM but they have nothing to offer besides Simmons. Highly doubt that’s Danny’s ideal return.
They definitely can’t blow away or even top a package from Orlando based around Suggs, Franz, Hampton & picks
Has Orlando offered that though?
There are definitely teams that can outbid NY (OKC can probably offer 378 picks and swaps), there just hasn’t seemed to be a lot of reporting on any of them making offers.
As the draft (& many other examples) just showed, Orlando’s front office doesn’t leak much at all. When it comes to trade negotiations like this you should believe less than 50% of “reports”. Majority of it is just to get clicks tbh. This is why Lakers & Knicks are always heavily involved. They get the most clicks. If we try something new & use logic it’s pretty easy to see why Orlando would have major interest in Mitchell. It’s just as easy to see that NYK can’t beat most logical packages that Orlando could offer. Let’s declare today as a holiday & try to use logic instead of just going off of what others are telling us to think
So in this instance going off of no reporting and concluding, based on your conjecture alone, that Orlando would give up Franz, Suggs, and multiple 1sts for Mitchell is somehow superior to referencing people like Woj, Lowe, Shams, Stein, et al who regularly speak to all sorts of people with inside knowledge of what’s being discussed in front offices?
Speaking of logic: while it may seem logical to you for ORL to pay a high price for Mitchell, I’m not sure holding onto their future assets and especially Franz doesn’t make more sense. Franz might end up being better than DM and fits Paolo’s timeline better — and they don’t have to give up multiple picks in the process
That 1st sentence of yours is a doozy lol. I see a question mark at the end but I couldn’t decipher any question that was being asked. But again it’s not “my conjecture alone” lol. It’s obvious logic that I’m begging you to use. All those same guys you named were wrong about the draft. They all had Orlando taking Jabari Smith Jr. That was just a few months ago, I’m sure you remember… as far as Franz ever being better Donovan Mitchell. He definitely wont. The boy can play ball but there’s levels to this. And Donovan fits Paolo better as far as “timeline”. With Mitchell on board Paolo would come into the league on a playoff ready team that’s can compete & win games from the jump. With Wagner & Suggs he’d be more in competition with his own teammates than with opposing teams. Sorta how Shaq fit Kobes timeline much better than AI or Camby would have even tho they were closer in age.
Hey man it may be obvious logic that’s just above my head – I’ll take your word on it though
Like I said I’ll be the first to admit NY *can* be outbid. So it definitely could happen.
Please understand that my main point is that you shouldn’t just take my (or anybody’s) word on this. You’re smart enough to come to the right conclusions if you just gather the basic pertinent facts & use logic. I’m glad that we found common ground tho. The original commenter feels that NYK can’t be outbid for Spida which is sorta crazy to me tbh
Since we are on grammar, “lol” is not a word. Unless you are a 14 year-old girl. You live in a glass house genius!
You’re salty lol I love it
It’s also logical to say, because of advancements in Quantum mechanics, if I keep running into this wall head first there is a possibility that I can go right through it unharmed and transport myself to the other side
Logical. Yes!
Likely. No!!!!!!!!
I know you could’ve come up with a better analogy than this
Ahhh. But you obviously get the point.
Right?
I’m not sure I do tbh lol. You’re saying that logic isn’t infallible? The type of logic I’m talking about would definitely keep you away from running into walls
@sankara u taking everything a little too seriously, g
I don’t take u seriously
@Jaysfan1981- Rooting for the Blue Jays, don’t you do that all the time anyway? (Run thru the brick wall) I wish you my very best for your recovery. Please wear a helmet next time for your safety. Lol.
@Judge.
Have the pinstripes won a WS since you’ve been alive?
Just asking for a friend for ummm trivia , yes. Trivia lol
@Jays- Sure have, 1979, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009. Very young in 1979(4 years old) You were born in 1981? My wife was born in late 80’ I remember the Jays winning in 1993. I was 17 years old and rooting for the Phillies of course. Lol.
The Vegas odds on Banchero going number 1 dramatically shifted the night before or day of the draft, so the Orlando FO certainly isn’t “leakproof”
1st off never said they were leakproof. Not sure who you’re quoting there. 2nd the point is that the so-called experts were obviously wrong & logic was obv right regarding what Orl would do with their #1 overall pick. Vegas is irrelevant in this. Not blindly trusting the same reporters who’ve been wrong time & time again is the point
@bholesurfer: Sankara has been talking about Orlando trading for Mitchell for months despite no rumors of any kind that Orlando is interested. I’m not sure why, but practically every Mitchell article has Sankara talking about Orlando being able to top anyone else’s offer.
I should wait for rumors before talking about something like Spida going to Orlando? My bad I didn’t know the protocol lol
Yes they can.
Smart. Lock up the only good young player you have.
Really isn’t a big name UFA that they’d pursue next offseason, so I don’t see them dumping salary for WB. They could plan for 2 years from now if Siakam/Brown/Murray aren’t extended.
I still think they make a trade for DM. They have continually missed on big name FAs time to abandon that route and use the picks to get a known quantity. DM doesn’t put them over the top so they can’t just get rid of every asset. They’ll need to keep some for down the road. Don’t give Danny everything he wants.
That Ward stat is insane.
But I’d rather give up the extra picks than RJ – even an unprotected first has a slim chance of being top 3, and while RJ hasn’t been a home run prospect he’s shown enough to believe there’s an All-NBA level two way player in there somewhere.
Also I wouldn’t underestimate the leak that Mitchell would “prefer” NY/BK or MIA “if” traded. Usually once those leaks occur teams that aren’t included on the list don’t pop up with godfather offers.
Rose extending RJB might be saying just that – that Ainge doesn’t have nearly the leverage that he thinks and that NY is willing to let Utah take an inferior offer, or hold onto DM through camp, if the price is too high.
Only in Knicks fashion would they finally get #1 overall and it would be a traded pick lol.
Agreed on the Ward stat. Barrett, first one this century! Lol
Donavon Mitchell has never played without Rudy Gobert, I wouldn’t include Barrett or Toppin in a trade for Donavon Mitchell, in many ways he is an unknown quantity, his value as a combo guard is way less than what’s being reported.
Collin Sexton is as good of combo guard in my opinion and they want to sign him to a three year 40M deal.
Who knows? He’s had a lot of time off but last time we saw Sexton he couldn’t pull up from deep like Mitchell. He had poor shot selection, had a lot less court vision than Mitchell and was turn over prone. He also lost a year of development due to recovery from the knee surgery.
On top of that Garland broke out and the Cavs we’re a better team without him. Sure they added Mobley but adding Mobley doesn’t add 22 wins.
Sexton is an aggressive point guard, can attack and score at the rim, great ball handler, great scorer and he can shoot it a little.
Other than Sexton being a great scorer (he’s good not great) you’re spot on. Mitchell does all that but is a better shot creator and playmaker. I’m not saying Sexton can’t get to that level as he’s only 23 but he’s not there yet.
Not sure how I feel about the Barrett extension generally. I haven’t looked into the details yet. But NYK were smart not to wait on it solely because there was a tiny chance that UTH would build an acceptable proposal around Barrett. This looks like a stalemate with things happening if they happen. There’s a season to get ready for.