There’s so much to like about the four-year, $120 million extension that the Knicks and RJ Barrett agree on nearing a settlement.
There’s Barrett himself, of course. A few months ago, at the start of the Knicks jazz dance about Donovan Mitchell, I suggested in a column that even if Barrett had to be sacrificed to make Mitchell a Knicker, it should be done would have to, especially as it would likely reduce the draft pick-haul that Danny Ainge would be looking for.
And… well, let’s put it this way, if I had suggested that the Yankees should just drop Aaron Judge, I’m not sure the backlash would have been that intense. Trading Barrett? Knicks fans were ready to lie down on the runway as they loaded Barrett onto a plane bound for Salt Lake City. Knicks fans are actually very fond of Barrett, and Knicks fans have rarely taken a liking to anything over the past several decades.
So there is. And that counts.
So does this: Barrett clearly wants to be here. Well, look, $30 million a year isn’t exactly minimum wage, but the Knicks could have added an extra year and an extra $73 million to sweeten the deal, and didn’t. Barrett is still willing to sign on for another four years. When your best players show such an affinity for their situation, that’s a great sign.
Here’s the thing: The Knicks clearly want Barrett. They want him to be part of the core alongside Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson – and maybe Mitchell. The Knicks still believe they can strike a Mitchell deal without Barrett. And by signing him, they’ll even remove that slip as an option, at least for now. Teams get better by retaining good players. So far so good for the Knicks.
There’s a lot to look forward to. Barrett was the No. 3 draft pick in 2019, and when he hasn’t displayed the off-court pizzazz of Zion Williamson or the on-court flair of Ja Morant, he’s earned a reputation as one of the bluest blues in the NBA did. collar worker.
RJ Barrett’s contract extension with the Knicks would only be good for both sides. Jason Scenes for the New York Post
“Some guys work hard because they know someone is watching them,” Tom Thibodeau said last winter. “RJ works hard because he is like that, because he loves basketball, because he always wants to get better. And you can see what the results are.”
Barrett improved in leaps and bounds in both Year 2 and Year 3. It’s hard to know exactly what his ceiling is as a player, but rest assured he’ll bump into it and try to recalibrate it. There are concerns he’s still a bit of a tweener — he likes to mix it up internally, but he’s only 6-foot-6; He takes the 3 comfortably but can be a so-so marksman (and in fact he dropped from 40.1 percent to 34.2 percent from across the arc from age two to three, the only area of his game that declined).
But it’s not hard to believe he spent every day of the summer firing a few hundred shots a day. He just is. That makes him a smart player to try and build around. There is no question that he is interested. If that seems like a modest standard, well… look around the NBA.
“Honestly, it’s good that so many of my numbers are up this year,” Barrett said in February. “But none of that matters if you don’t win and we don’t win. You play this game to win, to win championships. That’s the only thing that should count.”
The next step is of course more difficult. Barrett is still only 22 and will play all year as a 22-year-old (unless the Knicks make it to the finals). It remains remarkable how young he really is. But eventually, those are just numbers on a birth certificate. At some point, perhaps immediately, Barrett will no longer be graded to spec. He’s now a player making $30 million a year. It’s no longer a futures stock.
Well, that shouldn’t bother Barrett, because nothing seems to bother him. But he committed to the Knicks, and the Knicks committed to him, and he’s become the most popular knick at 22, and not for nothing. It’s all ok. Everything could be great. Really, it’s all up to RJ Barrett now.