The New York Knicks have a point guard problem? Well, that’s weird.
The majority of the fanbase doesn’t like the idea of Elfrid Payton being the starting point guard.
In fact, my colleague here discussed 3 reasons why Payton’s role should be diminished, effective yesterday.
The tandem of Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley has New York Knicks fans singing love songs about them, but regardless of them both playing exceptionally well together, I believe they’re both best suited coming off the bench for the foreseeable future.
As this is being written, the New York Knicks have a record of 16-17 and are firmly within the playoff race, currently at the 6th seed in the East.
The team is coming off a massive win against the Sacramento Kings to the tune of 140-121.
This scoring uptick does no favors for Elfrid Payton, as he was forced to sit out of the game due to a hamstring injury.
Derrick Rose filled in quite nicely, providing a nice little stat-line — 64% from the field, 18 points, 6 dimes, 3 boards while shooting 2 for 2 from deep in 28 minutes of action.
Rose hit his first 7 shots in that contest.
Clearly, success can be had in spite of Elfrid Payton’s presence, in fact, the New York Knicks looked better on offense in Payton’s absence than they have with him.
Relegating Payton to the bench is an option, but seeing how well Quickley and Rose play off one another, it would be silly to mess that up.
Should the New York Knicks trade for a starting point guard?
This is what brings me to the idea for this article.
Could the New York Knicks trade for a starting point guard?
I’ve been team #ZO2NY for a while now, and while a lot of people in the comments hate the idea, I just believe Lonzo Ball is meant to be here with us.
Don’t want to beat a dead horse over and over, so here we’re going to explore three very different players that could come and start immediately for the New York Knicks at the point.
George Hill would bring a great shooter to the New York Knicks roster.
George Hill would provide the New York Knicks a veteran presence with playoff experience, a high basketball IQ, and someone who has shown he can hit 3-pointers at an elite level.
It feels like Hill has played in the playoffs more years than he hasn’t and considering he’s about to turn 35 years old, that’s saying something.
George Hill has shot close to 39% from deep for his career and has three seasons under his belt where he finished the year out shooting 46% from behind the arch.
One of those seasons was just last year with the Milwaukee Bucks where he accomplished said feat on 3 attempts per game as a back-up.
Hill is proving that there’s still a lot of gas left in the tank as he’s currently averaging 12 points per game on solid efficiencies across the board.
His offense on the perimeter would help to keep defenses honest while opening up lanes for both RJ Barrett and Julius Randle.
When Julius Randle is by far and away the best 3-point shooter in your starting lineup, you might have yourself a bit of a spacing issue.
If the New York Knicks could find a way to facilitate a trade sending Elfrid Payton elsewhere, a trade for George Hill makes all the sense in the world.
Hill is owed $10 million next year, so the New York Knicks may look to move on from him and dump his salary at the end of the year if things don’t go according to plan.
There’s not much going on in free agency this upcoming summer anyway, so even if the New York Knicks were forced to keep Hill, it wouldn’t be too detrimental as the team is probably looking at the summer of 2022 to really make their big moves.
The Thunder on the other hand are struggling and could use the additional cap space as both Reggie Bullock and Austin Rivers are on expiring deals.
The prize in the trade and the sole purpose in doing it would be the Detroit 2nd round pick in 2021, as it seems to be turning into a very high 2nd round selection which basically equates to a late 1st nowadays.
The trades make sense for both teams in my opinion.
A major move between the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets.
Recently I discussed my takes on 3 under-the-radar trade targets for the New York Knicks and one of those targets was none other than Terry Rozier.
Rozier is having himself one helluva season where he’s averaging over 20 points per game and shooting 46% from deep.
He fits the Knicks’ timeline far better than either George Hill or the player not named yet in the upcoming slide but also comes with a hefty, nearly $20 million price tag during the 2021-22 season.
If the New York Knicks didn’t plan on re-signing the former Louisville standout to an extension, then this trade idea falls flat on its face.
The Hornets are playing well, far surpassing many’s expectations of them, sitting at 15-16 which is good for 8th in the East.
If they’re playing well, then why trade one of your best players? Well, their backcourt is packed to the gills.
With the re-emergence of Malik Monk, a former trade target of mine, there are too many mouths to feed within Charlotte’s point guard and shooting guard rotations.
LaMelo Ball is turning into a star very quickly, Devonte’ Graham has been playing much better as of late, and Monk has been killing it since the month of February began.
The Hornets trade Rozier because they really shot themselves in the foot by giving Gordon Hayward such a massive contract which will prevent them from having any cap space to make roster improvements in the near future.
Charlotte does lack depth on the wing, so Harkless and Knox would fit right in and either can back-up the 3 or 4 spots with ease.
Bismack Biyombo is a shell of his former self, so acquiring some depth at the 5 could help. Leonard also brings a solid 3-point shot with him to Charlotte, an element the Hornets don’t currently have.
A blockbuster deal between the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors.
This is the most “WIN NOW” move the New York Knicks could make.
The former 6-time All-Star checks all the boxes for a Tom Thibodeau-ran team.
Kyle Lowry is set to be a free agent this summer and even though the Toronto Raptors seem to have found their footing since a very slow, early-season start, Lowry’s name keeps coming up in trade talks.
A former free-agency target of the New York Knicks, Fred VanVleet is playing out of position, and since he’s the youngest between himself and Lowry, it would be smart to build around him as the team’s primary point guard moving forward.
Similar to George Hill, Kyle Lowry brings playoff and championship experience with him to the New York Knicks.
The primary difference being that Lowry was easily the 3rd best player, some would even say the 2nd best player on a championship-winning Toronto Raptors team.
Nearing age 35, Kyle Lowry is still averaging 18 points per game, 6.5 assists, and 40% from 3.
If the New York Knicks are dead-set on trying to do something in the playoffs, there couldn’t be a more perfect fit.
On the Toronto Raptors’ side of the deal, they still keep a relatively experienced roster moving forward.
Frank Ntilikina is the quintessential player that Masai Ujiri would love to snag.
Elfrid Payton could possibly start if the Raptors like the two point-guard rotation still or just come off the bench behind “FVV”.
Austin Rivers is a nice combo-guard who could come off the bench as well and fill in either of the two guard positions if ever necessary.