New York Knicks

New York Knicks executive vice president William Wesley is gearing up to make a trade offer for Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell, according to Newsday's Steve Popper.

Popper wrote:

According to the same person who pointed to Wesley's criticism of Thibodeau, Wesley has been selling his plan, one that eventually will land Utah's Donovan Mitchell, a New York native. But this is not schmoozing a high school player and steering him to a college of choice, and it's not so simple even if the relationships are in place. Rose served as a former agent for Mitchell and the front office also inserted Johnnie Bryant as associate head coach after Bryant served as an assistant in Utah.

The news comes after an Eastern Conference scout told Ric Bucher of Fox Sports in January that the Jazz are "a first-round exit from Donovan being in New York."

Mitchell has been a staple in Utah's lineup since the 2017-18 campaign. However, the Jazz haven't made many roster moves over the last few years and will need to do so if they hope to win an NBA title, even if that means parting ways with Mitchell.

And while some believe Mitchell would be open to returning to New York, where he grew up, the three-time All-Star told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports earlier this month that he has no intention of leaving the Jazz in the future.

I think I've reached a point where you're happy with yourself, first off. ... But as far as myself with the franchise, I see the articles, but I really address it with my teammates. I've seen it. I'm not too stressed about it. I'm not thinking about it. Because for me, it's about how we can win.

There's going to be talk whether I say something, whether I don't say something because that's how I've always been. I've always been someone that's like, 'OK, they're saying stuff. Let's go ahead and lock in.' I haven't really thought too much about it. I'm happy right now and just continuing to find ways to win.

Mitchell has been a consistent scorer over his five-year career and is averaging 25.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from deep in 47 games this season.

While Mitchell remains loyal to the Jazz, anything could happen during the offseason, especially if the Knicks end up with a high first-round draft pick, which could be intriguing to Utah.

However, it's unclear what the Knicks would have to give up in order to acquire Mitchell. In addition, it's unclear how much he alone would be able to help the franchise, which is in the midst of a highly disappointing season, next year. More acquisitions would likely have to be made.

Mitchell is in the first year of a five-year, $163 million contract. The Knicks probably wouldn't have an issue taking on his contract, especially given Wesley's interest. 

The New York Knicks announced that guard Quentin Grimes suffered a subluxation of his right patella and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Grimes suffered the knee injury 14 seconds after he checked into the Knicks' 115-100 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday.

SNY's Phillip Martinez explained what happened.

"On the first possession coming off the bench in the first quarter, Grimes looked to bang his knee against the Heat's PJ Tucker, and then fell to the floor. Eventually, Grimes' teammates would help him to the locker room."

The Knicks took the 21-year-old Grimes with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft. The former University of Houston star is averaging 6.3 points on 42.1 percent shooting (39.8 percent from the three-point line) in 17.4 minutes per game.

He's had a couple of big games this year when called upon, notably dropping 27 points on Dec. 12 against the Milwaukee Bucks and 20 more versus the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 12.

Seeing Grimes miss time is undoubtedly disappointing in a down year for the struggling 25-35 Knicks, who have lost 14 of their last 17 games.

Thankfully, the knee injury doesn't appear to be too serious, and a return this year is certainly plausible with the regular season lasting another month-and-a-half.

At the very least, Grimes offered this encouraging tweet after the game:

Without Grimes, look for Cam Reddish to see more time. Reddish replaced Grimes in the lineup after the injury and has averaged 5.3 points in 12.0 minutes over 10 games since the Knicks acquired him in a Jan. 13 trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler praised New York Knicks forward RJ Barrett following his 46-point outburst Friday night.

Butler scored 23 points to help lead the Heat to a 115-110 win, but it was Barrett who stole the show at Madison Square Garden by knocking down 13 of his 22 shots to establish a career-high scoring mark.

"We all know he's capable of that," Butler told reporters. "I don't think anybody is surprised or should be surprised. He's definitely going to be playing in this league for a long time, and he's going to be the face of the Knicks."

Barrett has made steady progress across three NBA seasons, and he's started to look like the potential franchise cornerstone the Knicks we're hoping for when they selected him with the third overall pick in the 2019 draft.

The 21-year-old Duke product has averaged 18.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 threes across 49 appearances this season. His scoring average sits at 29.2 through five February games.

"When you have a night like that, of course you want to have a win, which is the most important thing," Barrett said after the Knicks' loss, which dropped the team's record to 25-35.

New York posted a 41-31 record last season to reach the playoffs, but it's so far fallen short of expectations during the current campaign.

Barrett is a bright spot, however, and opponents are taking notice of his improvement.

"You could see it in the body language, you could see it in his face," Heat center Bam Adebayo said. "He wants to be that guy. You could see he wants to take his team to another level. You could see it in his body language. He's playing free. He's not even thinking about what shots to take, when to take them. He's just going out there and playing basketball."

Unfortunately for the Knicks, his recent hot streak hasn't resulted in an uptick in the team's results, as they've lost all five games he's played this month.

New York sits 12th in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final berth in the play-in tournament, with 22 matchups left in the regular season.

Barrett is going to need some more help if the Knicks are going to make up that deficit to at least give themselves a shot at making the playoff field.

New York Knicks wing RJ Barrett scored a career-high 46 points in a 115-100 home loss to the Miami Heat on Friday from Madison Square Garden.

Barrett, a third-year pro out of Duke, shot 13-of-22 from the field and 6-of-11 from three-point range. He also made 14-of-22 free throws, grabbed nine rebounds and joined an exclusive franchise list along the way:

Barrett's previous career-high was 36 points, which he set Feb. 5 in a 122-115 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He nearly hit that mark in the first half alone en route to 30 points:

Barrett didn't need too much longer to set his career-high, hitting the 37-point mark midway through the third quarter:

Barrett is now averaging 23.9 points per game since Jan. 4.

He's emerged as the team's most valuable player during a year where he's steadily improved and become the Knicks' top scorer.

Barrett had missed the Knicks' final four games before the All-Star break with a left ankle sprain, but he showed zero rust on Friday. He helped New York get going after this tough layup for a 10-0 lead:

He ended up scoring 13 in the first quarter:

It was more of the same in the second quarter, when Barrett made four three-pointers and scored 17 more points:

Despite Barrett's 30-piece in the first half, the Knicks trailed 65-55 entering the break.

Miami slightly cooled Barrett off in the second half, but he still scored 16 more points and did some damage in the mid-range:

He had 39 points through three quarters before adding seven more in the fourth. No Knick player had scored 46 or more points since Carmelo Anthony in 2014:

Despite Barrett's best efforts, the 25-35 Knicks could not keep up with the 39-21 Heat. New York committed 18 turnovers (nine in the fourth quarter), and Julius Randle shot just 2-of-15 while Evan Fournier hit only 5-of-16 shots.

Meanwhile, Tyler Herro scored 25 off the bench for the Heat, and center Bam Adebayo controlled the paint with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

A home-and-home series with the Philadelphia 76ers now awaits the Knicks, with the first game occurring Sunday at MSG.

Mitchell Robinson Jr., father of New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, has been found safe two weeks after going missing. 

Per TMZ Sports, Robinson was found on Tuesday morning in Clayton, Missouri when he was pulled over by police officers for a traffic violation. 

The Clayton Police Department told TMZ they ran Robinson's name through the system and discovered he was listed as a missing person by Escambia County police. 

The CPD informed Escambia that Robinson was safe and not a danger to himself before letting him go with a verbal warning. 

In a post on Instagram Stories earlier this week, Robinson said his father has been missing since Feb. 11. 

"Don't know a place the devil will hide you ... Come home pops," Robinson wrote. 

The 39-year-old Robinson was last seen in Pensacola, Florida when he was originally reported missing.

The Knicks center was born in Pensacola on April 1, 1998. He began his high school tenure at Pine Forest High School in the city before transferring to Landry-Walker College and Career Preparatory High School in New Orleans. 

Robinson was a second-round draft pick (No. 36 overall) by the Knicks in 2018. He has been the primary starting center for the past two seasons after coming off the bench during his first two seasons. 

Veteran point guard Kemba Walker made a mutual decision with the New York Knicks to shut himself down for the season, but apparently, that didn't have to be the case.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Walker would be a popular option for other teams to pursue on the buyout market, but he has no plans on agreeing to one with the Knicks.

"There are a number of teams who would love to have Kemba Walker in a buyout," Wojnarowski stated on Thursday's episode of NBA Today. "That's not gonna happen. He's not interested in that with New York."

Wojnarowski went on to say that Walker is focused on preparing himself for the 2022-23 season instead of joining a team that will be competing for a title this year. 

A native New Yorker, Walker had negotiated a buyout with the Oklahoma City Thunder this past offseason to join the Knicks on a two-year, $18 million contract. But things have not worked out the way either side had hoped.

The 31-year-old is averaging career-lows of 11.6 points, 3.5 assists and 25.6 minutes in 37 games. Walker was benched by Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau in November before being reinserted into the lineup less than a month later while the team dealt with injuries to multiple players.

Walker showed flashes of brilliance this season, including a 44-point outburst on Dec. 23 and a triple-double on Christmas Day. But the majority of his games have been well below the level of a four-time All-Star.

At 25-34, the Knicks are in last place in the Atlantic Division. The team's first game after the All-Star break will be against the Miami Heat on Friday. New York had made the playoffs last season, but this year the team would be lucky to earn a spot in the play-in tournament.

Kemba Walker's tenure with the New York Knicks hasn't gone according to plan, but the team was content to ride things out when the NBA trade deadline was approaching.

SNY's Ian Begley reported the Knicks "didn’t aggressively pursue trades involving Walker ahead of the deadline." Walker is due to hit free agency in 2023, so Begley speculated the four-time All-Star might yield a higher return in a trade when he only has one year left on his contract.

The report added that Walker "was held in high regard by many players in the Knick locker room," so the benefits he provides to the team extend beyond the court.

Team president Leon Rose announced Wednesday the 31-year-old will miss the remainder of the season:

Bringing the Bronx native home made sense in the offseason. While his performance had dropped off from his peak with the Charlotte Hornets, he averaged 19.3 points and 4.9 assists per game with the Boston Celtics in 2020-21.

The Knicks needed a point guard after Elfrid Payton hit free agency, so signing Walker was more than a sentimental move.

But it appears the knee problems that dogged Walker during his Celtics run were more serious than outsiders realized. He finished 2021-22 by averaging 11.6 points and 3.5 assists.

Things got so bad that head coach Tom Thibodeau briefly benched him.

Walker is set to earn $9.2 million in 2022-23, which isn't a significant sum for a trade suitor to absorb. Another team might be able to convince itself he can still be a productive point guard after having had a lot of time to rest up too.

From the Knicks' perspective, trading Walker will still probably amount to little more than a salary dump, though, with how much his stock has fallen.

Kemba Walker's season is over.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the New York Knicks and the point guard's agent, Jeff Schwartz, worked together to develop a plan after Walker's time with the team "became fraught with starts and stops."

Team president Leon Rose released a statement about the decision:

Walker will not play again this season and will begin to prepare for the 2022-23 campaign. What's more, the Knicks and Schwartz could explore trade possibilities this offseason with the 31-year-old set to enter the last year of his contract in the summer.

To say this has been an up-and-down season for Walker would be an understatement.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau removed him from the rotation in late November, but he made his way back into the lineup when the Knicks were dealing with attrition, including Derrick Rose's ankle injury. Walker scored 21 or more points in three straight games in December, including an explosion for 44 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a loss against the Washington Wizards.

However, he dealt with a knee problem in early January and had scored fewer than 10 points in 11 of his last 12 appearances before this decision.

Wojnarowski noted the Knicks are expected to get Rose back in the near future following his surgery, so the veteran will help make up for the lost minutes with the absence of Walker.

Walker will finish the season with per-game averages of 11.6 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 0.7 steals in his first and perhaps only season with New York.

It is a far cry from when he was an All-Star for four straight seasons from 2016-17 through 2019-20 as a member of the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics. There was a time when Walker was one of the best offensive point guards in the league and regularly scored more than 20 points per night.

Perhaps some time off or a change of scenery can help him rediscover that form in 2022-23, but the Knicks will not have him as they try to make a late charge from 12th place in the Eastern Conference.                      

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson III says his father is missing and pleaded with him to "come home" in a social media post Monday.

Mitchell Robinson Jr. has been missing since Feb. 11, according to an Escambia (Florida) County Sheriff’s Office post.

Police did not have any information on his whereabouts or any clothing he was wearing at the time of his disappearance.

The Knicks center posted an Instagram story Monday night while driving with the caption, “Don’t know a place the devil will hide you……Come home pops.”

Robinson is asking anyone who has seen his father or has any information about his whereabouts to call the sheriff's office at 850-436-9620.