RJ Barrett can deliver loud Knicks affirmation versus Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers

It’s not a fair comparison. It’s never been a fair comparison. It’s never going to be a fair comparison. They are different players. They do different things. They have different strengths. They have different weaknesses. So that means this is not a fair debate.

RJ Barrett versus Donovan Mitchell?

Well, as noted sports columnist Billy Shakespeare once quoted an old swingman named Bassanio (in either the April 11, 1598, edition of The Post or “The Merchant of Venice”): “I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind.”

OK. So maybe Donovan Mitchell isn’t a full-blown villain (although, after the Cavaliers and the Knicks are done with their coming playoff series that starts Saturday, that could easily change). But as far as Barrett is concerned, he may as well be. For as long as Barrett is here, it is a reminder that Mitchell is not.

And for much of this season, that has been a matter of some profound conversation, since Mitchell has played at a level in Cleveland that will almost certainly earn him a spot on the All-NBA first team while Barrett (as well as Quentin Grimes, as well as at least four of the Knicks’ warehouse of draft picks) were grinding out another season at Madison Square Garden, one that landed them four games behind the Cavs in the Eastern Conference roster of merit.

But this is a new conversation now. This is a fresh canvas.

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And RJ Barrett, across the next four to seven games, can make a loud statement to those in the front office who didn’t ship him to Cleveland, one that will ring unambiguously these next four to seven years if it shakes out well for him:

You did the right thing.

“I’m serious about winning,” Barrett said after the Knicks closed out their regular season Sunday with a ho-hum loss to the Pacers in which everyone inside the Garden — players, fans, probably everyone but the obsessively in-the-moment coach, Tom Thibodeau — was already focused on the Cavaliers, hoping this dance in the NBA’s postseason can go better for the Knicks than it did two years ago against the Hawks.

Barrett was just a second-year player that year, not yet 21, and while he was fine in that series (14.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists) he wasn’t anywhere close to the Knicks’ biggest concerns, which were summarized in two sentences:

1. Nobody could (or would) guard Trae Young.
2. Julius Randle was … well, let’s say, not good.

Young will be nowhere near the Garden. And while Randle, if he plays, will be compromised by his ankle sprain, the fact is these Knicks are a lot more balanced and a lot more dangerous than those Knicks were. Jalen Brunson is one reason, yes.

But Barrett is another. It was a decidedly up-and-down season for Barrett, who regressed slightly in points and rebounds and 3-point shooting but improved significantly in both his free-throw shooting and his 2-point shooting, reflective of his commitment to take the ball to the basket more, and be more aggressive and assertive inside the arc.

There have been some moments — when he is focused more on the 2 than the 3, when he makes smart choices with the ball, when he fearlessly attacks the rim — when Barrett is every bit as important as Brunson and Randle. But there have been other times, especially at home, when the Garden grows quickly restless for Immanuel Quickley and Josh Hart to hop to the scorer’s table.

This is a change for Barrett, who was so universally popular for most of his first three years here — all huge leaps up in terms of performance and achievement — that just mentioning the notion that it might be OK for the Knicks to include him in a Mitchell deal turned my email inbox into an inferno last summer.

He doesn’t seem nearly as well-protected by the fans these days.

But he’s still a very good player, with the capacity for more. He’s shown more in flashes — and in some extended stretches — this year. It would be very useful for the Knicks if he could display that starting Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

“It feels good to be on his team, there are so many players that can play well, on any given night,” Barrett said Sunday. “So many players can bring anything to the table. Thinking about our team we can be just so deadly.”

When they are, it’s usually been because Barrett has scored around 22 points, grabbed some rebounds, played terrific defense and shot the ball not only well but judiciously. He does that against Mitchell and the Cavs? Maybe this really is a fair fight after all.