15 years ago, nobody had traded 5 players and 2 picks for 1 player before. Then KG got moved. Back in the day, you needed a player on Mitchell's level to entertain the other team in trade talks, real blockbusters. 15-20 years ago, Mitchell's not getting moved for anything less than Jaylen Brown for example, or Ingram. Then it was the "give me a huge expiring so I can get these free agents with this cap space" era. Then teams had to draft well and hope their prospect stable was enough for a deal. Then the Jrue trade happened and now we're in the picks + pick swaps era. In this instance, aside from maybe Grimes, I don't even feel like the players are holding up the deal as much as it is which picks are involved and how they're protected.
the trade from earlier this summer went down and put a stop to anything major because now the league gotta adjust. On draft night, you mighta gotten Mitchell for young players, #11 and maybe 2 other picks. shyt changes that fast and when it does, everyone's caught off guard but that's gonna be the new currency. OKC was one step ahead of everybody in that regard and even if that big doesn't get traded from Utah, someone was gonna press OKC for those picks simply because they have so many of them. If I have 20 other firsts, asking me for 5 doesn't feel like I'm asking for much, so all this was inevitable. The Knicks just happen to be the first team getting tested in the pick inflation era (for lack of a better term)
