New York Knicks: What would it take to trade for Bradley Beal?

Exploring trade ideas for the New York Knicks to acquire Bradley Beal

The New York Knicks are on pace for a 40-win season and their first playoff birth in almost 10 years. You read that right, no need to adjust your televisions, The Knicks are actually on pace to make the playoffs. After ESPN’s rocket scientists estimated they would only win approximately 24 games and to be the 3rd worst team in the Eastern Conference, to quote the late David Fizdale’s infamous line, “Take that for data”.

For the Knicks fans out there who want to continue a proper rebuild through the draft to avoid making the same mistakes the organization has made time and time again, I hear you. Some will most definitely still come after me for these trades but I just couldn’t live in a world where I didn’t at least explore the idea of Bradley Beal becoming a Knick. The last time New York traded for a superstar in their prime, they were able to build a 54-win team around Carmelo Anthony and made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

With the Washington Wizards doing whatever they could this offseason to keep Beal happy in D.C., it looks like their efforts will be fruitless. Between pairing Beal with the polarizing Russell Westbrook and bringing back Davis Bertans on a very generous contract, the Wiz have only managed to eke out two unimpressive wins on the season, even after he put up 60 points last night!

Although Bradley Beal has not been one to vocally express his dissatisfaction and disappointment with the team through various media outlets, if we read between the lines during his post-game interviews we can assume he may start looking for a way out soon.

If a Beal trade ever presented itself, I could see it going one of two ways: Either the Wizards decide that after losing Beal, they go with a youth movement moving forward and start up a new rebuild, or even with Beal gone they try to reload while remaining competitive. For the Knicks, the goal would be to improve the current roster and make a playoff run without decimating their entire future.

Let’s explore some trade ideas.