Welp.
The New York Knicks completed a deal to land former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani from the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
Howard Beck of the New York Times was the first to report the initial deal.
UPDATE: Knicks and Raptors have agreed to deal to send Bargnani to New York. Awaiting league approval.
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) June 30, 2013
New York would be sending Toronto center Marcus Camby—who the Raptors drafted in 1996—, sharp shooter Steve Novak, two second-round picks and a first-round selection in 2016.
Raptors getting NY's 2016 first; 2017 2nd and 2014 2nd via OKC; no word on protection on first. Deal is all but done. Bye-bye Bargi
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) June 30, 2013
Talks apparently hit a snag, however, when Beck reported that the NBA wouldn’t approve the deal immediately, forcing the Knicks and Raptors to tweak it accordingly.
UPDATE: Knicks trade for Bargnani will NOT be approved by NBA tonight. As a result, teams will have to restructure under 2013-14 cap figures
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) July 1, 2013
Delaying the accord’s completion meant the deal would go down after June 30, when the 2013-14 salaries go into effect. This was especially problematic here because Camby and Novak’s salaries went down, while Bargs’ went up, meaning the Knicks would have to ship out another contract to make the deal work financially.
Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears reports that an agreement in principle has been reached, though, and the deal will be pushed through after July 10 once the Association moratorium period is lifted.
Raptors just completed trade the of Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks, a source told Yahoo! Sports.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 1, 2013
Andrea Bargnani deal agreed to in principle. Can't be completed until July 10.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 1, 2013
Though the adjusted parameters aren’t clear, once has to assume it’s structured similarly to the original deal, at which point Knicks fans everywhere must be scratching their heads.
Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri held no loyalty to the roster he inherited upon spurning the Denver Nuggets for the Raptors, so he was able to pull the trigger on this deal without batting an eye. Camby and Novak aren’t stars, but their contracts combined don’t even add up to the $23 million they were paying Bargs over the next two years. Also, a first-round pick is a first-round pick. This brings Toronto one step closer to clearing out as much monetary dead weight as possible, making it easy to justify.
The Knicks don’t have that luxury. People will want answers. Why are the Knicks trading for Bargs?
Because they’re not done.
I’ve been saying all offseason the Knicks are going to do something we con’t see coming. That’s the nature of their beast. Without fail, it always seems to happen. And it did. And it’s going to happen again.
Broken-record style, I don’t know what it is, but this deal isn’t the end. Not after watching the Brooklyn Nets bring in both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, and arguably becoming favorites to steal New York’s Atlantic Division crown.
Here, the Knicks essentially traded a first-round pick for Bargs, who’s averaging 15.2 points per game for his career. He’s a regrettable defender and underwhelming rebounder, but when healthy, he can score. Between him and Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks have two injury-prone bigs capable of putting points up on the board in a hurry.
Depending on how you look at it, that’s either good or bad. Take your pick. Relinquishing that first rounder doesn’t sound like good business, and it may not be, but understand this isn’t the end. Something else is going to happen. I suggest reserving your judgment until the dust settles in the next few weeks.
I myself won’t promise you’ll like whatever does or doesn’t come next. But I can all but guarantee there is going to be a next move. This is the first step of a bigger, unclear plan. Any and all ensuing vitriol must be holstered until we know what that is.
Not that you need to take my word for it. Inevitably, you’ll see for yourself. After years upon years of blowing through first-round draft picks like candy, the Knicks know how important they are. This wouldn’t have transpired if there wasn’t a bigger vision at stake.
These Knicks have more moves left in them. For better or worse, acquiring Bargs was just the beginning.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
