Knicks originally weren't sold on giving RJ Barrett huge extension?

David Aldridge: It’s weird, the RJ Barrett piece. I had heard pretty strongly earlier in the summer that the Knicks weren’t actually all that convinced Barrett was worth a big extension and their priority was holding onto Quentin Grimes – whom this front office, of course, took late in the first round last year. (And, of course, this front office did not draft Barrett.) Well, they held onto Barrett and Grimes, and now they need to find another target for all of those future firsts.
Source: David Aldridge, Sam Amick, Joe Vardon @ The Athletic

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Nate Duncan @NateDuncanNBA
Hollinger & Duncan: Which Rebuild Looks the Best; RJ Barrett Extension; Chet Injury; Mailbag w/ @John Hollinger
Subscribe: https://t.co/T1AUAqd476 pic.twitter.com/daimWkNsun – 4:30 PM Nate Duncan @NateDuncanNBA
Hollinger & Duncan: Which Rebuild Looks the Best; RJ Barrett Extension; Chet Injury; Mailbag w/ @John Hollinger
Subscribe: https://t.co/T1AUApVtfy pic.twitter.com/BHvWsnh23p – 12:30 PM Micah Adams @MicahAdams13
40 players averaged 20 PPG last season.
RJ Barrett and Julius Randle ranked 39th and 40th in true shooting pct.
In a league where it’s never been easier to score 20, the Knicks employ the two who do it the least efficiently. – 11:30 AM Ben Anderson @BensHoops
COLLIN SEXTON ACTUALLY HAD A BETTER SEASON THAN RJ BARRETT WHEN HE WAS 22 AND NOW HE COSTS $12 MILLION LESS PER YEAR AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE PLAYED 3 ON 5 AT ALABAMA AND ALMOST WON pic.twitter.com/YrZji4XQ1J – 12:26 AM Nate Duncan @NateDuncanNBA
Hollinger & Duncan: Which Rebuild Looks the Best; RJ Barrett Extension; Chet Injury; Mailbag w/ @John Hollinger
Subscribe: https://t.co/T1AUAqd476 pic.twitter.com/xqej4XLNh7 – 6:00 PM Alan Hahn @alanhahn
Just asked @Bobby Marks on the show: if you were GM of the #Knicks would you have done the deal with what the Jazz wanted? His reply: “No.”
But would have if you take out RJ Barrett,. – 2:15 PM Ian Begley @IanBegley
From earlier: NYK felt some of its offers to Utah were – at the least – objectively on par w/offer Jazz accepted from CLE for Donovan Mitchell. Some included 3 unprotected firsts. Some included RJ Barrett. More on that & the potential fallout for NYK here: sny.tv/articles/knick… – 9:17 AM Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
The RJ Barrett rookie extension starts at $23.9M and increases over the length of the contract. The last year is $29.6M.
Barrett has 3 sets of incentives (All NBA, All-Star and All-Defense) that equal to $1M per in each of the 4 seasons. – 8:05 AM Ian Begley @IanBegley
In talks w/Utah, NYK felt they made offers that were – at the least – objectively on par with offer Jazz accepted from CLE for Donovan Mitchell. Some included 3 unprotected firsts. Some included RJ Barrett. More on that & the potential fallout for NYK: sny.tv/articles/knick… – 10:23 PM StatMuse @statmuse
Which are you taking?
Package A:
— RJ Barrett
— Obi Toppin
— Mitchell Robinson
— 3x Unprotected Picks
Package B:
— Collin Sexton
— Lauri Markkanen
— 3x Unprotected Picks
— 2x Pick Swaps pic.twitter.com/bmG0WSV18n – 9:09 PM Vincent Goodwill @VinceGoodwill
New for ⁦@YahooSports⁩: Donovan Mitchell joins ambitious Cavs after Knicks balk at parting ways with RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes (full trade details of what Knicks turned down inside) sports.yahoo.com/donovan-mitche… – 7:45 PM Ian Begley @IanBegley
In talks with Utah, Knicks made offers to Jazz that included 3 unprotected first round picks and didn’t include RJ Barrett. Club also made offers that included RJ Barrett, two unprotected firsts and the 2025 first round pick from MIL that is top 4 protected. – 7:19 PM Ian Begley @IanBegley
NYK was unwilling to meet Utah’s asking price for Donovan Mitchell, which at one point included RJ Barrett, Evan Fournier, 3 unprotected first round picks, additional draft compensation & another young Knick. NYK’s decision comes with significant risk: sny.tv/articles/knick… – 6:53 PM Stefan Bondy @SBondyNYDN
Although the story will be the Knicks choosing RJ Barrett over Donovan Mitchell, the more appropriate comp here is the player they signed for $100 million who plays the same position, Jalen Brunson. …Brunson’s signing made Mitchell an awkward fit. – 4:18 PM Law Murray @LawMurrayTheNU
The Hawks got Dejounte Murray to pair with Trae Young
The Cavs got Donovan Mitchell to pair with Darius Garland
and the Knicks… got Jalen Brunson to pair with RJ Barrett – 4:14 PM Brian Mahoney @briancmahoney
Knicks announce the contract extension for RJ Barrett, with Leon Rose saying he’s become “a force on both ends of the court.” – 3:59 PM Ben Anderson @BensHoops
My understanding was the Cavaliers had made a compelling offer for Donovan Mitchell and the @Utah Jazz had initially rejected the deal.
Have to imagine they had their sights set on RJ Barrett and when that fell through they reengaged with the Cavaliers. – 3:42 PM Ian Begley @IanBegley
League source confirms Cavs finalizing trade for Donovan Mitchell. In talks w/NYK, Utah had sought RJ Barrett in packages. NYK extended Barrett earlier in week, complicating talks, opening window for others like CLE, who had pulled out of talks last week. ESPN 1st on Mitchell/CLE – 3:42 PM Marc Berman @NYPost_Berman
Leon Rose has just announced RJ Barrett’s extension just as it is reported by ESPN Donovan Mitchell is headed to Cleveland. – 3:35 PM Tommy Beer @TommyBeer
Players to average at least 24 points, 6 rebounds and 2 made three-pointers per game over the second half of the 2021-22 season:
LeBron, Luka, Tatum, KD and RJ Barrett
end of list. – 2:05 PM Kurt Helin @basketballtalk
Did RJ Barrett extension set the market for Tyler Herro, Jordan Poole? nba.nbcsports.com/2022/09/01/did… – 1:46 PM Marc Berman @NYPost_Berman
“If they don’t pay him as the third pick, then it would look like Scott Perry made a mistake”: The good and bad of RJ Barrett’s contract extension #NBA #Knicks nypost.com/2022/09/01/cou… – 10:51 AM CBS NBA @CBSSportsNBA
Donovan Mitchell trade rumors: Knicks paid RJ Barrett with intention of still striking Jazz deal
cbssports.com/nba/news/donov… – 9:58 AM Ian Begley @IanBegley
From earlier: A few notes on previous Jazz-NYK trade talks surrounding Donovan Mitchell, how RJ Barrett & Mitchell Robinson can match a late 1990s Knicks mark, GM Scott Perry & rare NYK continuity: sny.tv/articles/jazz-… – 8:44 AM Marc Berman @NYPost_Berman
#Knicks Newsletter: Why RJ Barrett’s contract extension has some NBA scouts scratching their heads nypost.com/2022/09/01/cou… – 8:36 AM Ian Begley @IanBegley
A few notes on previous Jazz-Knicks trade talks surrounding Donovan Mitchell, how RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson can match a late 1990s Knicks mark, GM Scott Perry and rare NYK continuity: sny.tv/articles/jazz-… – 8:51 PM Nate Duncan @NateDuncanNBA
New @John Hollinger & Duncan: Which Rebuild Looks the Best; RJ Barrett Extension; Chet Injury; Mailbag
hollinger-duncan.simplecast.com/episodes/which… – 4:08 PM Jake Fischer @JakeLFischer
The full episode of ‘Please Don’t Aggregate This’ with @Chris Herring is recorded and up on @getcallin, Apple, and Spotify.
A dissection of the Knicks-Jazz talks that broke down on Monday night, impact of the RJ Barrett extension, and much more: callin.com/link/zNTuuMOCDU – 3:17 PM

More on this storyline

Chris Fedor: And New York may not be real about what they’re going to give to the debt. They might not give the Jazz everything that they could and everything that the Jazz want. So that was about like two weeks ago or so the Cavs thought, hey, there is a path to this thing. And then talks broke down again. So, or at least real talks about something actually transpiring broke down again. And then as you got into late last week, an early this week, and the Knicks continued to hem and haw, the next being the team that everybody thought was going to make the best offer to the Jazz. They wanted to keep certain pieces out of the deal. And then they agreed to the contract extension with RJ Barrett, like that changed the landscape a little bit. And Koby Altman reached back out to Justin Zanick. I believe it was Tuesday morning, and said, ‘Hey, is there something that we can do here? Like what is it that you would need from us in order for this to get done? ‘ -via Apple Podcasts / September 3, 2022 At the end of the day, according to sources, the Knicks would not part with the third unprotected first round pick the Jazz wanted in a package that would have been headlined by small forward RJ Barrett, which had become a snag point in talks for an extended period of time. -via The Athletic / September 2, 2022 As recently as last week, the Cavaliers put an offer on the table to the Jazz concerning Mitchell. The Jazz liked that offer but wanted to continue negotiating with the Knicks, with whom they were still in talks. Those talks reached the serious stage over the weekend, according to league sources, and actually came close to completion. The two sides were close enough, according to sources, that the Jazz had come to a package that they could live with. That package would have brought Barrett to Utah, but the deal didn’t get finished. -via The Athletic / September 2, 2022