The 2018 NBA trade deadline has officially passed. How did it change the way the New York Knicks are looking at the 2018 NBA Draft?
The New York Knicks entered the 2018 NBA trade deadline with an opportunity to build towards a brighter future. Losing Kristaps Porzingis to a season-ending knee injury was a devastating blow, but the organization wasn’t in a position to pity itself.
The trade deadline arrived less than 48 hours after New York received news of Porzingis’ torn ACL, but that didn’t stop Scott Perry from working the phone lines and finding the team a trade.
The Knicks began trade week by shipping Willy Hernangomez to the Charlotte Hornets for a pair of future second-round draft picks. It was a polarizing move, but it wasn’t the last deal that New York agreed to before the deadline.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Knicks acquired point guard Emmanuel Mudiay from the Denver Nuggets in a three-team trade.
Denver, New York and Dallas agreed on a three-way deal, league sources tell ESPN. Mudiay to Knicks; Devin Harris to Denver and Doug McDermott to Dallas.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2018
It was a potentially beneficial decision that deserves to be discussed at length, but there’s another element that must be discussed.
New York was active at the 2018 NBA trade deadline, but not in the way that most expected it to be. It preserved its future by keeping its 2018 first-round draft pick—meaning it will have a first-rounder on an even year for the first time since 2008.
The question is: How does the trade for Emmanuel Mudiay impact the line of thinking behind the approach the New York Knicks will take at the 2018 NBA Draft?