The New York Knicks are New York Knicks-ing.
There isn’t much left for the NBA’s worst team to play for other than losses these days. Carmelo Anthony is done for the year and they’re short on young talent to evaluate, so losing is in their best interest, since it greatly increases their chances of winning the lottery—and, unlike years past, they actually own the rights to their first-rounder.
Which they’re apparently willing to trade.
From ESPN New York’s Ian Begley:
To that end, Jackson has been scouting some of the top college prospects in person recently. He attended an Ohio State game to watch D’Angelo Russell earlier this month and later went to Kentucky to see the Wildcats’ top prospects.
But those counting on seeing Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns or Duke’s Jahlil Okafor in a Knicks jersey next season might want to temper expectations.
In an interview on ESPN New York’s “The Robin Lundberg Show,” ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst said the Knicks are at the very least considering their options when it comes to trading their first-round pick.
Specifically, Windhorst said the Knicks are looking into “opportunities” to see “what they could possibly get if they trade their draft pick.”
Now, the Knicks cannot trade the selection itself, since they traded last year’s first-rounder and do not own the rights to their 2016 first-rounder. But they can trade the player they select after the fact, just as the Cleveland Cavaliers did with Andrew Wiggins.
Gauging the market for what, as of now, will be a top-four pick at worst isn’t unwise. Seeing what’s out there and acting on it are two very different things. The Knicks aren’t ready for a years-long rebuild, either—not with Melo on the wrong side of 30 and their draft well relatively empty. Turning a top prospect into players who can make an immediate impact is par for the course they’re trying to travel.
The danger here is getting desperate because of that path. There’s no reason to settle, to trade for an underwhelming package that doesn’t include a superstar or a collection of stars. And that’s why, if the Knicks are smart, they’re probably going to retain whomever they draft.
After all, who’s available? Or rather, who’s available and worth it? If Kevin Durant (soon-to-be free agent) or Chris Paul (cyclical playoff failures) suddenly become available, you pounce. But that’s beyond unlikely. Maybe DeMarcus Cousins reaches the chopping block, and that could work in the Knicks’ favor, but that’s really it in terms of somewhat realistic targets, the former two of which aren’t really realistic at all.
Unless a megastar is suddenly up for auction, the Knicks can ill-afford to mortgage their future on anything less than a Cousins-like return. They should draft someone like Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns and hope they can groom them into a superstar.
Again, in the event a Durant or a CP3 or a Cousins becomes available, things change. For now, that pick, along with impending cap space, is all the Knicks have to build around. They need to use both assets properly for a change.
