donovan mitchell knicks
Ron Chenoy | USA TODAY Sports

Sweet vindication for NBA reporter and internet meme Brian Windhorst. He was right.

The Jazz are indeed up to something. They traded Rudy Gobert and now, it appears, they’re willing to trade Donovan Mitchell. Utah is reportedly now willing to listen to trade offers for their best player, a New York native who loves the Mets and played most of his high school ball in Connecticut.

Mitchell has been connected to the Knicks for a while. Now he’s apparently available. And team president Leon Rose is expected to push for a blockbuster deal. So … can the Knicks pull this off? What would be their best offer?

Here’s how ESNY’s Danny Small sees it:

Mitchell to the Knicks makes sense on a number of levels. He has roots in the area, there are CAA connections with Rose and there is front office familiarity.

This trade would need to include a veteran like Evan Fournier or Derrick Rose to make the money work. The notion a rebuilding Jazz team would want to take on Julius Randle at $117 million over four years is a pipe dream at best.

So, with that out of the way, let’s make a deal. RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson are the the only Knicks who are safe. Barrett is the one young player on this roster with real star potential and Brunson is the new point guard of the future. If the Knicks are going all-in with this deal, they are betting big on a Brunson-Mitchell-Barrett trio.

Five picks, Fournier or Rose and two of Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin sounds like Utah’s starting price. The Jazz will want more than they got for Gobert. Whether or not the Knicks pull the trigger is debatable.

If it happens …

Knicks get: Donovan Mitchell.

Jazz get: 2023 first-round pick (Dallas, top-10 protected); 2023 first-round pick (Washington, lottery protected); 2024, ’26 and ‘28 first-round picks (Knicks, no protections), Evan Fournier, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin.

James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.