Last night, Shams Charania of the Athletic reported that the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz had begun discussions on a Donovan Mitchell trade. The question now, how much will it cost the Knicks to prize away the Jazz's star player, and should they trade their own star in RJ Barrett?

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The short answer is, NO. It would be crazy for the Knicks to give up on their young star to bring in a player who has shown few signs that he will completely turn around the franchise.

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New York drafted Barrett with the no.3 overall pick in 2019 and have seen him grow each year that he has been in the league. He was a key part of the team that made it back to the playoffs in 2021, after missing out for seven straight seasons and he has only scratched the surface of the amazing talent that he could become!

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RJ Barrett's stats through first 3 seasons in the NBA:

• Year 1- 14.3/5.0/2.6
• Year 2- 17.6/5.8/3.0
• Year 3- 20/5.8/3.0

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Barrett has shown the ability to be a two way threat in the NBA, regularly guarding the opponents most potent offensive player, especially in the 2021/22 season. Where he largely took over as the teams best player, following Julius Randle's struggles.

At 6'6 he has great size for his position and it provides him with the standing to guard multiple positions on the floor. Despite not having achieved as much as Donovan Mitchell, Barrett is on the brink of stardom at 22 years old, with Mitchell still scratching around the spectrum of superstardom despite the quality of the Utah Jazz team he has played in for the last five years.

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This is not to say that Mitchell would not be a great addition to this New York team, the former no.13 pick has been an All-Star in each of the past three seasons, averaging 25.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists in that span on a Utah team that has reached the playoffs in each of those seasons. He provides volume scoring and offense prowess we have not yet seen from Barrett.

However, he will be 26 years old to begin the new season, he is 6'1 and shown himself to be somewhat of a liability on the defensive end. This is not a franchise leading player, maybe RJ Barrett never will be either but the potential he has as a two way threat is enough to not even consider including him in any potential packages for Mitchell.

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Instead, the Knicks should focus on building a package centered around future draft picks and role players like Evan Fournier, Quintin Grimes & Cam Reddish. New York currently has 8 tradeable first round picks, with three of them from the Oklahoma City Thunder, so offering four or five draft picks wouldn't be committing their entire future to Mitchell and the current core.

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At the end of the day, Donovan Mitchell would be a great addition to the New York Knicks but trading away RJ Barrett would make it yet another desperate Knicks disaster!

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(Photo- Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)