Worldwide Wes Presenting Plan For Knicks To Make Run At Donovan Mitchell

Knicks executive vice president William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley has been lobbying a plan to team owner James Dolan to land a true star, with the main target being Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, according to Steve Popper of Newsday.

Wesley was hired to assist Knicks president Leon Rose prior to the season, given their connections to CAA sports agency. Mitchell is CAA client.

But it will take more than that to pry Mitchell away from the Jazz. He’s a franchise and fan favorite and clearly one of the top guards in the game. 

“Popper points out that Mitchell will make $30.4MM next season and won’t hit the open market until 2025 at the earliest, and any deal the Knicks could offer would have to include almost every asset at their disposal,” wrote Arthur Hill of Hoops Rumors.

As we relayed earlier, Wesley reportedly has also been critical of coach Tom Thibodeau in discussions with Dolan.

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,” Popper wrote.

“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.”