The recent stretch of losses has been tough to stomach, but the New York Knicks have something to look forward to: The 2018 NBA Draft.
The New York Knicks are in the midst of one of the most challenging stretches of the 2017-18 NBA regular season thus far. Despite getting off to a 17-14 start through 31 games, the Knicks have entered the midway point below .500.
As the Knicks attempt to overcome the inconsistency, the fans have inevitably expressed their frustration—frustration that may be irrational.
Losing is never easy to stomach, but New York is in a win-win situation. Making the playoffs would provide its young core with invaluable postseason experience and improve its reputation amongst future free agents, but that isn’t the only positive outcome.
If the Knicks continue to lose games at this rate, however, they’ll be back in the NBA Draft lottery—where a future star could be waiting.
The silver lining of the Knicks potentially missing the playoffs is that they’d have an opportunity to draft one of the top prospects in the world. There’s no telling who’s near the top of Scott Perry’s board, but assumptions can be made at this stage of the process.
In alphabetical order, the following prospects should make the losing a tolerable endurance for New York Knicks fans in 2017-18.