New York Knicks: 3 trades to replace Mitchell Robinson

The Knicks could use a center that does things a little differently

This trade helps both teams. With Chris Boucher stealing Aron Baynes’ starting gig right out from under him, a change of scenery could help revitalize Baynes’ season. Baynes would provide an element to the center position that the Knicks have not had for quite some time — someone who can shoot from deep. While Baynes is struggling this year, he shot 34% and 35% from deep over the last two seasons. Baynes was quietly the 2nd best player on the Phoenix Suns next to Devin Booker while the team waited for Deandre Ayton to return to the lineup from his suspension. In fact, for the month of November in 2019 Baynes averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 rebounds while shooting an astounding 45% from 3-point range.

On the other side of the trade, Elfrid Payton gets moved to another contending team so convincing him to waive his No-Trade clause shouldn’t be much of an issue. Since the Raptors use both Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry in their starting lineup, they don’t have a quality backup point guard behind the two, so Payton would fill a huge role for Toronto.

If we could find a way to get Aron Baynes to return to his 2019-2020 form, this deal would be an absolute fleecing. I’m waiting for the day the Knicks get Masai Ujiri back for that ill-advised Andrea Bargnani trade from way back when.