People in touch with the Knicks prior to the draft said the club was wary of trading the combination of picks and players that it would take to land a player like Mitchell. The thinking, according to people in touch with the club at the time, was that there wouldn’t be enough left on the roster to field a contending team.

Does that change now that the Knicks have signed Jalen Brunson and still have 11 first-round picks and eight second-round picks over the next seven years?

I don’t think so. It’s fair to assume that any trade package for Mitchell would include four future first-round picks. The Timberwolves, per ESPN, sent Utah three unprotected first rounders. The Knicks have the ability to do that. But based on their stance before the draft, it’s hard to see them sending out all of those picks and several of their young players to land Mitchell. New York wouldn’t have enough remaining on the roster to field a contending team.

Minnesota added Gobert to a roster that already has Karl Anthony-Towns, Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell. The Knicks’ roster after a Mitchell trade wouldn’t have anywhere near the same level of talent.

If Utah decides to trade Mitchell, Miami is certainly a team to watch. The Heat’s situation is complicated by the club’s pursuit of Kevin Durant (according to a source, several people were lobbying Durant on behalf of Miami on Thursday and Friday in the wake of his trade request out of Brooklyn).

One thing worth noting on Utah: the Jazz now have an incredible amount of draft capital. Utah can use those picks to get involved in any multi-team trade centered around Durant.

Teams – including the Heat – continued to pursue Durant on Friday.

One other note on the Knicks and trades: they were among the teams to express interest in trading for Dejounte Murray. Murray was ultimately traded from San Antonio to Atlanta for three first-round picks and a pick swap. Two of those first-round picks are unprotected, per ESPN.

Danilo Gallinari was traded to San Antonio in the deal and subsequently waived. The Knicks had the draft capital to match the Atlanta offer even though it was a steep price. Based on Murray’s comments on Friday, they may not have had a realistic chance to land Murray.

Murray said in a press conference that if he wasn’t traded to the Hawks, he would have stayed in San Antonio. His goal was to play with Trae Young.

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