Knicks Notes: What a trade package for Donovan Mitchell could look like

Jalen Brunson said a few things on Tuesday night that should excite Knicks fans. He talked about how analysts who’ve questioned him since high school overlooked the size of his heart. He said that he’d bring the same approach with the Knicks that he brought to elementary school-age workouts with his dad.

Brunson said all the right things on Tuesday during a season-ticket holder event at MSG that was closed to the media.

No matter what the Knicks do for the rest of the offseason, it’s safe to bet that they will improve with Brunson on the roster. He fills a void at point guard that the Knicks have had trouble filling over the past 20 years. There are reasons to be skeptical of the Brunson signing, in my opinion . But they have little to do with Brunson’s ability to help his teams win games.

Just how many games the Knicks win during the Brunson era depends on dozens of different factors. The one most fans care about right now? A potential trade for Donovan Mitchell. I think the Knicks’ Mitchell pursuit comes down to the value and amount of first-round picks they offer to Utah.

But in their talks with the Knicks, the Jazz have asked about several players on the roster, including RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes.

I’d be surprised if Barrett ends up being in a Mitchell trade. I’d also be surprised if Julius Randle ends up being in a two-team trade that sends Mitchell to New York.

Taking those two players out of the equation, here is a look at the math behind a Knicks-Jazz trade for Mitchell:

THE PICKS

New York can send eight first-round picks to Utah in a trade. They can send four of their own picks and four future first-round picks they’ve received from other teams. They can send Utah four unprotected picks (their own). The highest 2023 protected pick they could send Utah is a pick from Dallas that’s protected 1-10. They have two other protected 2023 first-round picks and one protected 2025 first-round pick. (Details on those protections here, via RealGM).

THE PLAYERS

Mitchell makes $30.4 million. So the Knicks would need to send a minimum of $24.2 million to Utah in a trade for Mitchell. (*An update: Mitchell has a 15 percent trade kicker, as Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School points out. So the numbers here are based on the assumption that Mitchell waived that trade kicker in a Knicks trade.)

Again, I’m taking Barrett and Randle out of the equation.

If you don’t include Randle or Barrett in the trade, the Knicks would need to have either Derrick Rose or Evan Fournier in a deal to make the math work. (You can make it work with both Rose and Fournier but that wouldn’t make sense from a Jazz perspective.)

Rose has a team option for 2023-24. Fournier has a team option for 2024-25.

DEALS WITH ROSE

Rose makes $14.5 million, so you need to add another $9.7 million in salary to make the deal work.

Here are a few combinations of young players that can work under NBA trade rules:

- Rose, Cam Reddish and Obi Toppin

- Rose, Toppin, Immanuel Quickley and Grimes

- Rose, Reddish, Quickley and Grimes

DEALS WITH FOURNIER

Fournier makes $18 million, so you need to add another $6.2 million to make a trade work under NBA rules.

Here are a few combinations of young players plus Fournier that work:

- Fournier, Reddish and Grimes

- Fournier, Reddish and Quickley

- Fournier, Reddish and Miles McBride

- Fournier, Toppin + any one of the players mentioned above

Given the potential packages above, I think this will come down to how many picks the Knicks are willing to include (particularly how many unprotected picks they’re willing to include).

New York will have competition. Miami has had interest in Mitchell. Members of the Nets organization have seen Mitchell as a potential target. Thanks to their future first-round picks, the Knicks can probably top either team’s best offer.

As we noted last week, keep an eye on Miami acquiring any other first-round picks in separate trades. That would give the Heat more to offer in any trades for Mitchell or Kevin Durant.