The Blueshirts on Wednesday acquired veteran forward Alex Wennberg from the Kraken, sending their own 2024 second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round 2025 pick to Seattle, the team announced.

Wennberg, 29, recorded nine goals and 16 assists in 60 games this season, his third with the Kraken.

The Rangers have until Friday’s 3 p.m. deadline to make any additional trades for their Stanley Cup push.

Originally a 2013 first-round pick by Columbus, the two-way Wennberg joins a Rangers team that lost Blake Wheeler and center Filip Chytil to significant injuries.

Now in his 10th NHL season, Wennberg boasts 90 goals and 240 assists over 693 games with the Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and Kraken. Wennberg’s 25 points this season were seventh-most on the Kraken and would rank eighth on the Rangers. His four game-winning goals and 65 blocked shots both led Seattle.

Wennberg’s best season came in 2016-17, when he recorded a career-high 59 points, including 46 assists, for Columbus. He scored a career-high 17 goals in 2020-21 during his lone season with Florida.

The Stockholm-born Wennberg has appeared in 42 playoff games, adding a little extra postseason experience to a Rangers team that leads the Metropolitan Division at 40-18-4.

The Rangers tied a franchise record with 10 consecutive wins between Jan. 27 and Feb. 24 but have since dropped three of four games, including Monday at home against the Atlantic-leading Panthers.

The Denver Broncos granted their lame-duck quarterback permission to meet with other teams before they officially release him next week, according to ESPN.

The Broncos plan to cut Wilson once the new league year begins on March 13, the team announced Monday, and will reportedly eat $85 million in dead money on his mega-contract.

“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,” Wilson said in a statement Monday. “God’s got me. I am excited for what’s next.”

The 35-year-old Wilson, a Super Bowl champion and nine-time Pro Bowler with Seattle, threw for 26 touchdowns against eight interceptions last year but went just 11-19 over two disappointing seasons with Denver.

Wilson is due $39 million next season, though any team that signs him could do so for a minimum $915,000 contract, leaving Denver to pay the rest.

The Broncos traded a haul including two first-round picks, two second-round picks and quarterback Drew Lock to the Seahawks to acquire Wilson in 2022, then signed him to a five-year, $245 million extension.

But Denver failed to make the playoffs in either of Wilson’s seasons there, even after hiring Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton before the 2023 campaign. The Broncos were 7-8 and still alive for a wild-card spot when they benched Wilson for backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in December.

“We’re desperately trying to win,” Payton told reporters at the time. “Sure, in our game today, there are economics and all those other things, but the number one push behind this, and it’s a decision I’m making, is to get a spark offensively.”

Wilson then claimed the Broncos threatened weeks earlier to bench him if he declined to adjust a $37 million guarantee in his contract that would trigger if he failed a physical in the offseason. Wilson said he did not agree to do so.

It’s unclear how much of a market Wilson faces following back-to-back uneven seasons, especially with multiple quarterback-needy teams picking high in next month’s NFL Draft, which is considered deep at the position. Kirk Cousins is expected to be the most in-demand quarterback in free agency.

The Nets ultimately retained Finney-Smith, but his on-court production over his last 10 starts entering Tuesday’s matchup against the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers had been shaky at best, as he averaged 6.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting an efficient 45.6% from the field, but just 29.4% from 3-point range.

Finney-Smith’s best performances over that stretch came in two road games against Minnesota and Memphis, where he averaged 12 points and nine rebounds on 52.6% shooting.

However, a player as talented as Finney-Smith was bound to have a breakout game at some point this season. And his signature moment finally came in Tuesday’s 112-107 win, a game where the Nets entered without Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe, and exited without Cam Johnson.

Interim head coach Kevin Ollie has been begging his players to step up in clutch time. The 6-7 forward responded with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter. He finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds overall to help lead the Nets to victory.

“We got down by 14, got down by eight and he was just saying, ‘Coach, I got you,’ ‘Coach, come on. We good we good’ and he just never wavered and that’s what we need from our leaders, never waver, always have confidence in each other and I thought they just gave that to each other tonight and it was just it was beautiful to watch,” Ollie said.

Mikal Bridges, Dennis Smith Jr. and Dennis Schröder kept finding Finney-Smith for easy buckets around the rim. And Finney-Smith got himself going, too, with a few key offensive rebounds that kept important possessions alive for Brooklyn.

“He’s a dawg, man,” Lonnie Walker IV said. “He does a lot of things that probably don’t get noticed or get seen. You know, a lot of offensive rebounds, put-back layups… He does the dirty work.”

Said Finney- Smith: “Guys were finding me cutting and stuff like that. Coach been asking me to cut a lot more with the new sets that he’s been putting in.”

Finney-Smith, a 37.6% shooter from distance this season, also went 4-of-7 from deep in the win. It was the first time he had made at least four treys in a game since Jan. 27.

“It’s just something that’s going to come back,” Finney-Smith said of his marksmanship. “I feel like the average is going to be what it’s going to be. Just try not to focus on it. It is what it is. Just shoot the ball with confidence and let the results be the results.”

But offense aside, Finney-Smith got it done defensively. He did not record a steal against the 76ers, but had a defensive rating of 109.7, the highest among starters. The Nets were plus-9 with Finney-Smith on the court Tuesday night, but his teammates stepped up defensively, too.

Brooklyn outscored the Philadelphia, 32-24, in the fourth quarter and 28-15 over the final 8:45 of regulation.

“Just getting stops,” Finney-Smith said. “Dennis [Smith Jr.] did a good job of guarding, getting the breakaway steal, the 360. [Nic Claxton] was guarding as well. They went small, and we had to switch everything. So, I feel like everybody stepped up and took the challenge, and we got the win.”

That’s how many regular-season games the Knicks have left.

It’s the number of opportunities a depleted New York roster will get to retain its playoff standing.

The free-fall is in full effect at Madison Square Garden, where a Knicks team without its entire starting frontcourt has lost nine of its last 12 games — including Tuesday’s 16-point loss to the No. 10 Atlanta Hawks in a matchup both Jalen Brunson (bruised knee) and Trae Young (hand surgery) missed due to injury.

Without Brunson — who luckily evaded a serious injury and is working to return to play soon — a Knicks team already short Julius Randle (dislocated right shoulder), OG Anunoby (right elbow surgery) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle surgery) couldn’t expose a porous Atlanta Hawks defense.

It was one of the Knicks’ ugliest losses of the season.

Such is the status quo — ugly — at The Garden of Dreams, where a roster stretched thin is beginning to reach its limits.

And while it’s unfair to cast higher expectations onto a team missing such core players, the Knicks — shorthanded or not — still need every win they can get, with Tuesday’s inexplicable loss to Atlanta a costly blunder in the standings.

The Orlando Magic, who own the season series against the Knicks, 3-0, leapfrogged New York as the new fourth seed in the East on Tuesday.

The Knicks have fallen to fifth and are only a half-game ahead of the No. 6 Miami Heat.

No. 7 Philadelphia and No. 8 Indiana are within striking distance, too, and 76ers MVP Joel Embiid is expected to return from a meniscus injury soon.

Only 1.5 games separate No. 4 Orlando from No. 8 Indiana, which means the fifth-place Knicks are closer to falling to eighth in East than they are to climbing to the No. 3 seed.

Make no mistake: The No. 3 seed is in play the second Randle, Anunoby and Brunson suit up in the starting lineup once again — and bonus points if Robinson is able to return as a dominant force in the paint this season.

A mostly healthy Knicks team won 13 games in the 16 immediately following the Anunoby trade.

The front office then traded Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and a pair of second-round picks at the deadline to the Detroit Pistons for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.

When healthy, the Knicks project as a deep team, solid on both ends of the floor with an emphasis on threes and rebounding.

And they are led by players coaches voted into the 2024 All-Star Game in Brunson and Randle, who couldn’t attend due to his shoulder injury.

The Knicks know their fortunes will turn the moment they get their horses back on the floor.

“At the end of the day, I feel if this team gets healthy, we can make noise,” veteran forward Josh Hart said after Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks. “Obviously, you don’t want to be in The Play-In. You’d like to have that three or five days of rest going into the first round.

“It’s a cliché Thibs thing, but we’re just trying to take it one day at a time. Obviously, we’re going to get guys back soon, but we have to keep pushing. At the end of the day, we are where we are, and I like this team.”

Which brings us back to the magic number: 20. Twenty games left to decide the Knicks’ standing.

Of those 20 games, 11 are against teams with winning records.

And of those 11 games, seven come in the month of March, with three in a row coming Friday against the Magic, then games both Sunday and Tuesday at home against the Sixers.

Another three will cap a four-game road trip, beginning in Portland then hitting Sacramento, Golden State and Denver, home of the reigning NBA champions.

Injury timelines on Randle and Anunoby are not yet clear, though it would appear Anunoby is further along the rehab process than Randle.

The Knicks are hopeful at least one of the two are back before the end of the month. If both were to return by March 30, the Knicks would have nine games mostly healthy to regain chemistry heading into the playoffs.

Now for some housekeeping.

It would behoove the Knicks not to finish with a seed destined to meet the league-best Boston Celtics in the second round.

Seeds six and seven avoid the Celtics until the Conference Finals, as do seeds two and three, though the Knicks are likely out of the running given their injury situation.

The shorthanded Knicks, of course, cannot be picky. With Randle, Anunoby and Robinson out due to injury, New York will be lucky not to fall into Play-In Tournament territory before their stars return to the court.

And when they do, the process begins all over again.

Randle, for example, is a bruiser who throws his right shoulder into his opponent’s chest. How will he adjust his game now with a shoulder in potential need of offseason surgery?

Anunoby hit a good scoring rhythm shortly before he left the rotation. He’ll need time to find his flow again, too.

And after being thrust into roles requiring more output, players like Hart, Deuce McBride, Precious Achiuwa and Bogdanovic will need to re-adjust to playing alongside the stars.

Just 20 games left, maybe less than half after the Knicks get some familiar faces back on the roster.

It’s a tight window, but if any team has proven an ability to adapt on the fly, it’s these Knicks, who are biding time until their stars return to save the day.

Quintana had been scheduled to start the afternoon road game in West Palm Beach, Fla., which was briefly delayed before being canceled altogether.

The left-handed Quintana is now expected to start Thursday against the Washington Nationals at the Mets’ Clover Park, with Luis Severino sliding back to pitch Friday on the road against the Miami Marlins.

Quintana, 35, allowed two runs in 1.2 innings in his first start of the spring last week on the road against Houston.

“Overall, he was OK,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after that outing. “It was one of those outings where he goes out there to work on certain pitches, with the two-seam being one of them. He threw a good pitch to [Jose] Abreu and struck him out.”

With ace Kodai Senga set to miss the start of the season with a shoulder strain, the veteran Quintana could be in line to start the Mets’ regular-season opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 28 at Citi Field.

Last spring, Quintana was diagnosed with a rib legion. He didn’t debut until late July and ultimately pitched to a 3-6 record and a 3.57 ERA over 13 starts.

SENGA MAKES PROGRESS

The Mets continue to express optimism about Senga’s shoulder, with Mendoza on Wednesday describing the early stages of the right-hander’s rehab as “so far, so good.”

“He’s strengthening that shoulder,” Mendoza said. “He’s continuing to say that he’s feeling good, progressing well with the limited activity he’s doing. A lot of shoulder exercises.”

Senga received a platelet-rich plasma injection in late February for the strain in the posterior capsule of his right shoulder. At the time, the Mets shut down Senga’s throwing for three weeks.

The Japanese-born Senga recorded a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 166.1 innings during his debut MLB season in 2023.

Mendoza has said the Mets don’t expect Senga’s injury to be a long-term issue.

“We’ll wait until he starts playing catch and all that, but as of right now, he’s moving in the right direction,” Mendoza said Wednesday.

RAIN DELAYS FUJINAMI

Wednesday was supposed to mark the first appearance this spring by reliever Shintaro Fujinami, who recently returned from his native Japan after dealing with a personal issue there.

The rain cancellation changes those plans.

The hard-throwing right-hander, who struggled with walks en route to a 7.18 ERA over 64 appearances with the Oakland A’s and Baltimore Orioles last season, joined the Mets in the offseason on a one-year, $3.35 million deal with incentives.

The sport’s changing landscape felt particularly evident to the former Alabama coach as he met with his team following the 2023 season, shortly before he retired.

“I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?” Saban told ESPN in an interview published Wednesday.

Saban, who won seven national championships in his 28 seasons as a head college football coach, retired in January at age 72, less than two weeks after leading the Crimson Tide to another berth in the College Football Playoff. Alabama replaced him with Kalen DeBour, who just took Washington to the national championship game.

While Saban didn’t specify why he decided to retire, he acknowledged to ESPN that his past methods weren’t resonating as much with today’s athletes.

“Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field,” Saban said.

“I’m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn’t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ I’m not saying that’s bad,” Saban said. “I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s never been what we were all about, and it’s not why we had success through the years.”

The NCAA updated its rules in 2021, allowing players to make money off of their names, images and likenesses (NIL) and letting them transfer without sitting out a year.

Saban, who won six of his NCAA championships during his 17 seasons with Alabama, is hardly the first veteran coach to discuss the challenges presented by NIL and the transfer portal. Rick Pitino, who overhauled the St. John’s roster through the portal after taking the St. John’s job last year, has described college sports as free agency.

“It’s a tough time in college basketball right now, and for us, we can’t really build programs and a culture because everybody leaves,” Pitino said last month. “We did it with six fifth-year guys [this season]. They’re all gonna leave, and then we’ve got to replace [them] with new free agents.”

“We need a backup quarterback,” Johnson said after his team went 7-10 following Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles injury in Week 1. “We didn’t have one last year.”

Johnson is not wrong in his assessment. A year ago, the Jets were on the verge of acquiring Rodgers in a trade with the Packers. However, Jets general manager Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh continued to back Zach Wilson despite the fact that he was being demoted from starter to second-string.

Following a disappointing 2,271-yard, eight touchdown and seven interception season in which he was forced back into the starting role after Rodgers’ injury, the Jets are ready to move on from Wilson. Douglas told reporters at the end of last month the team gave Wilson permission to seek a trade.

Now, the Jets will look to improve their backup quarterback situation in a make-or-break season. Douglas and Saleh both received a mulligan following a disappointing season in large part because of Rodgers’ injury four plays into his debut last September. That likely will not be the case again in 2024 if the Jets do not make the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

The backup quarterback market is robust, with many teams in need this offseason. The Jets have an estimated $27 million of salary cap space. They can create more money by restructuring some of their current players’ deals.

“That’s part of the discussions that we had,” Douglas said at the NFL Scouting Combine last week about acquiring a backup QB. “It’s an area that we’re going to be addressing moving forward.

“We’re still really early in the offseason, especially when it comes to the veteran backup landscape and market. We’ve had good meetings and evaluation with the guys that are available I think we’re ready to take the next step and see where the market is exactly with these backup quarterbacks.”

With Rodgers, 40, returning from a significant injury, the Jets know they need a break-in-case-of-emergency veteran backup who can fill in.

Let’s take a look at a few backup quarterback options:

RYAN TANNEHILL

Tannehill is the likely favorite to become Gang Green’s backup quarterback in 2024. His former offensive coordinator with the Titans, Todd Downing, is the Jets passing game coordinator. Jets offensive line coach Keith Carter also knows Tannehill during their days in Tennessee (2019-22).

Tannehill has 151 career starts for the Dolphins and Titans. He was a Pro Bowl quarterback in 2019 and helped lead the Titans to the playoffs from 2019-21.

But Tannehill lost his starting job after rookie Will Levis replaced him following a high ankle sprain. He eventually became the starter again after Levis injured his foot late in the season.

Tannehill, 35, could have starting options elsewhere. But if those plans don’t come to fruition, he could land with the Jets.

JACOBY BRISSETT

The Jets saw firsthand what impact Brissett can make when relieving a starting quarterback. After coming in for Sam Howell during their Christmas Eve game against the Jets, Brissett rallied the Commanders from a 21-point deficit. Washington lost, 30-28, after Greg Zuerlein’s game-winning 54-yard field goal with 10 seconds left.

Brissett, 31, has been a career journeyman since he was drafted in the third round by the Patriots in 2016. He is 18-30 as a starter but has been a steady backup for New England, Indianapolis, Miami, Cleveland, and Washington.

Like Tannehill, Brissett might look for a starting opportunity because he could be a bridge while a team looks to develop a younger quarterback option. The Jets would need to pony up the money for Brissett after he made $8 million during his one season with the Commanders.

GARDNER MINSHEW

After filling in for the injured Anthony Richardson, Minshew came close to getting the Colts to the playoffs in 2023. He was 7-6 as a starter after passing for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The Jets are fans of Minshew and he could be on top of their backup wishlist. Minshew only made $3.5 million last year, but expect him to double that in free agency.

Like Tannehill and Brissett, Minshew will likely look for a potential starting role.

JIMMY GAROPPOLO

Garoppolo isn’t a free agent, but he is expected to be released around the start of the new league year, which begins March 14. He is facing a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substance policy.

If Garoppolo is on the Raiders’ roster on the fifth day of the new league year (March 18), he would be owed a $11.25 million roster bonus.

Garoppolo signed a three-year, $72.75 million contract with the Raiders, including a guaranteed $33.75 million. But he was benched for rookie Aidan O’Connell hours after the Raiders fired coach Josh McDaniels.

Garoppolo, 32, is 43-20 as a starting quarterback. But lack of durability and diminishing skills are a concern. Garoppolo has a history with Saleh after the two spent time with the 49ers.

TYLER HUNTLEY

Huntley certainly doesn’t have the same experience other quarterbacks on this list do. But he has performed well in the games he has started the last two years.

Huntley, 26, is 3-6 as a starter, which includes a 2-2 record after filling in for Lamar Jackson for the Ravens in 2022. He also helped Baltimore reach the playoffs that year before losing to the Bengals in the AFC wild card round.

Huntley is a dual-threat quarterback, which is a plus considering the questions on the Jets’ offensive line. He has run for 509 yards and three touchdowns in four seasons.

Since entering the league in 2020, Huntley has passed for 1,957 yards, eight touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Huntley is an intriguing option, especially given Rodgers’ age.

The lawsuit, filed by Nassau County in federal court on Tuesday, marks a major escalation in a public battle between the county’s Republican executive, Bruce Blakeman, and the Democratic state attorney general over the transgender sports ban.

Last week, James issued a statement threatening legal action against the county over the order, declaring it “transphobic and blatantly illegal” and instructing Blakeman to “immediately rescind” it. Her office also penned a cease-and-desist letter to Nassau County.

But before James went to court, Blakeman sent the first legal shot, filing a 12-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York that said James’ cease-and-desist letter “violates the constitutional rights of biologically girls and women who are a federally recognized protected class.”

The complaint cited the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection, and argued the order conferred protections to women and girls seeking fairness in athletics. The reach of Blakeman’s order would be limited to county-run facilities.

The complaint seeks a declaratory judgement asserting that the county order is legal.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, James’ office said: “Our laws protect New Yorkers from discrimination, and the office of the attorney general is committed to upholding those laws and protecting our communities.”

“This is not up for debate: the executive order is illegal, and it will not stand in New York,” said the statement.

Because James’ actions had been limited to a cease-and-desist letter and a press statement, it was not clear that Blakeman’s complaint had presented a controversy demanding intervention by the courts, said John Barrett, a constitutional law professor at St. John’s University.

“The jurisdiction of the court begins with actual cases and controversies,” Barrett said. “This complaint may be more in the nature of a press release or a political position than a serious commencement of litigation.”

A plaintiff in the lawsuit is the father of a female 16-year-old volleyball player who, the complaint claimed, could be subject to “risk of injury by a transgender girl” if transgender females are allowed to participate in girls youth sports.

When Blakeman announced the ban two weeks ago, he could not cite for reporters any examples of transgender women or girls creating competitive disadvantages in athletics in Nassau County.

Blakeman said the county wanted to “get ahead of the curve.”

At a news conference Wednesday, Blakeman added: “It is coming to Nassau County — it is coming to all communities.”

He said courts have held that the “government can take appropriate, reasonable legal action to protect the citizens even if the harm has not actually been done yet.”

Gov. Hochul, a Democrat, issued a statement last month saying that Blakeman was seeking to “score cheap political points by putting a target on the backs of some of our state’s most vulnerable children.”

Barrett said the lack of concrete examples of harm in Nassau County’s lawsuit could hinder it by raising a question of legal standing.

“All of this is pretty abstract, and that kind of imaginary non-actual, non-concrete injury interest is usually a constitutional problem,” Barrett said. “It’s usually a basis for a court to conclude: We don’t have judicial power here.”

Susan Hazeldean, a Brooklyn Law School professor, agreed that Nassau County had not been harmed. She said she did not see a legal basis for the claim and that it appeared to be aimed at getting positive publicity.

But Hazeldean added that the state may not seek to dismiss Nassau County’s lawsuit. Instead, the complaint may simply serve as a starting gun for arguments in court about the ban’s legality.

“Presumably the State of New York believes that the executive order is unlawful and wants to see it enjoined,” the professor said. “I assume they’re going to want to make that clear to the court.”

That’s according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, who mentioned the Mets’ interest in signing the crosstown superstar next offseason as a significant takeaway from his visit to Port St. Lucie this week.

“The most interesting thing heard at Mets’ camp yesterday — and it’s not surprising, given that the [Max] Scherzer contract (and others) will melt off their payroll next winter — is that they fully intend to take a run at Juan Soto next winter,” Olney wrote Wednesday on the social media site X.

Soto, whom the Yankees acquired in December in a franchise-altering trade with the San Diego Padres, is an impending free agent who is expected to pursue a historic contract when he hits the open market after the 2024 season.

Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension offer from his original team, the Washington Nationals, in 2022, which prompted him to be traded that year to San Diego. Only 25 years old, Soto already boasts four top-10 finishes in NL MVP voting; three Silver Slugger Awards; three All-Star selections; a batting title; and a World Series championship.

The Mets and their deep-pocketed owner, Steve Cohen, largely avoided the top of this offseason’s free-agent class outside of a failed attempt to sign Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers on a record-setting $325 million contract over 12 years.

Next offseason figures to be different for the Mets, who must also decide whether to re-sign homegrown star first baseman Pete Alonso, who is set to be a free agent. Like Soto, the homer-hitting Alonso is represented by agent Scott Boras, who is notorious for getting his clients the most money possible.

“My whole focus this year is to be the best I can be, be as locked in mentally and physically as possible to help this team win,” Alonso said last month after arriving to spring training. “That’s my job. We’ll see what happens in the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The Mets gave contracts worth $43.3 million annually to Scherzer before the 2022 season and co-ace Justin Verlander a year later, only to trade both during the team’s disappointing 2023 campaign. The Mets are still paying sizable sums in 2024 to Scherzer, now of the Texas Rangers, and Verlander, who is now with the Houston Astros.

Scherzer’s contract ends after the 2024 season, while Verlander’s $35 million option for 2025 would vest if he pitches 140 innings this year. The Mets would owe Verlander, who is set to begin the season on the injured list with a shoulder issue, $17.5 million in 2025 should that option vest.

A Mets push for Soto could create a bidding war between the New York clubs, as the Yankees are also expected to try to re-sign the slugger after trading five players, including prized pitchers Michael King and Drew Thorpe, to acquire him and fellow outfielder Trent Grisham.

As Olney noted Wednesday, not every team can afford Soto, who crushed a career-high 35 home runs last season.

“You have a handful of tanking teams that would never consider taking on his salary,” Olney wrote on X.

Soto is off to a red-hot start in spring training, going 6-for-9 with five extra base hits, including three home runs, and seven RBI through his first four games. Soto, whose .421 career on-base percentage ranks 19th in MLB history, is batting second in the Yankees order, right in front of Aaron Judge.

It is what he should do. Barkley said once, and famously, that he wanted to be a “Giant for Life.” He can’t possibly still think that’s the best thing for his football life. Great Giants rarely leave on their own, not in their prime. He should.

There is still a big chance he ends up back with the Giants. Maybe he and Jones can still team up and play the Giants back into the playoffs, something they did the season before last. It’s just not the way to bet. For now, in the moment, Barkley is the story because the Giants declined putting a franchise tag on him. There’s still the window for him to work out a deal and stay, for him and for them. He should want to go, and be a star running back with a star quarterback, or he’s never going to win a Super Bowl.

Jim Brown, the best running back of them all, won one NFL title, with the ’64 Browns. Walter Payton won one, with the best damn defense anybody had ever seen. Barry Sanders never won. Eric Dickerson never won.

Emmitt Smith was great on the greatest Cowboys team of them all. But he had Troy Aikman. And Michael Irvin. Terrell Davis, also in the Hall of Fame, had himself a night once in Super Bowl XXXII, when the Broncos beat the Packers. He still had John Elway on his side. A lot of bad things have happened to Barkley in Jersey. The fact remains that the Giants are 30 games under .500 since he got with them. Running backs never make all the difference, they just can’t. And don’t. It’s why you don’t take them with the second pick even if they do turn out to be great.

There is nothing fair about what has happened to Barkley here since Gettleman decided to take a running back with the second overall pick, the way the Jets once took another Penn State back, Blair Thomas, back in 1990 (Blair was the Zach Wilson of running backs, then).

But then you better believe Barkley became Offensive Rookie of the Year, with over 2,000 total yards. Even after he hurt his knee, he came back to be the best player on the Giants team that not only made it back to the postseason, but won a playoff game on the road. Without question, he was the best player on that ’22 team. Then Jones became the Gettleman All-Star who got paid. Barkley did not. He certainly must dream about being the kind of centerpiece of a real team the way Christian McCaffrey, son of an old Giant, is with the 49ers. Right now, the Giants aren’t close to being that team. It’s why he might be gone now and Jones might be gone after the season if he doesn’t stay on the field and produce. At which point Giant fans will be talking about Gettleman, not Barkley, not Jones, being the worst pick the Giants have made lately.

Of course, it wasn’t supposed to end up like this, not after the Giants did win that playoff game against the Vikings, the week before they got treated like the junior varsity by an Eagles team on its way to the Super Bowl. Barkley had once again gained over 1,300 rushing yards. He had caught 57 passes. Jones? Even after a season when he’d thrown only 15 touchdown passes in 16 starts, played the game of his life against the Vikings. It turned out to be the first $80 million performance — so far — in all of Giants’ history.

Again and again: Saquon Barkley, at his best, has been a great Giant. He has carried himself like one. He has had the same three head coaches that Jones has had: Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge (another sparkling pick by Gettleman), now Brian Daboll. He sure does have to look across the country, and at the way McCaffrey is used by Kyle Shanahan, and imagine the possibilities of being featured like that, in football circumstances like those. They’re just not the circumstances in which he currently finds himself at MetLife Stadium.

March 6, 2024: Not it!

He only just turned 27. He has football miles on him, for sure, because all star running backs do, 1,200 carries so far in his career, nearly 300 receptions. He has come all the way back from ACL reconstruction surgery on his right knee back in 2020. Even last season, in a mess of a season for the Giants, he nearly got back to 1,000 rushing yards despite missing three games.

“[Barkley] is a guy we’d like to have back,” Giants general manager Joe Schoen said before the team made the determination not to franchise Barkley was officially made.

There is absolutely a chance, and a good one, that Barkley could still come back. He may be about to find out that what the Giants paid him last season — about $11 million, all-in — might not be far off from the best deal he can make for himself. He has a business decision to make. So, too, do the Giants in a quarterback world, even though they’ve got quarterback problems, too.

Barkley really has been a great Giant. Great Giants don’t leave. He should. It might not be the best thing for them. But if he can find a quarterback, it is the best thing for him.