NY Knicks: 2 semi-realistic trades for Luka Doncic

NY Knicks trade for Luka Doncic #2

With this trade, the good news is that the Knicks keep both Frank Ntilikina and Mitchell Robinson.

The bad news is they give up pretty much everything else.

Maybe I’m biased and overvalue RJ Barrett due to his age and his impact on this current season, but losing both him and Immanuel Quickley definitely hurts my heart a bit.

The Knicks first move Elfrid Payton to the Heat in exchange for Mo Harkless back in NYC and a 2022 2nd round pick that goes to the Mavericks.

The Knicks take on James Johnson again for salary matching purposes along with Dwight Powell who’s been pretty bad at everything this year but he’s a decent backup for Mitch.

The Mavericks again get both of their first-round picks back along with the Knicks’ 2021 1st and Detroit’s 2nd this year.

They also have the right to swap picks in 2022 with the Knicks.

For anyone who’s about to say that this is too much to give up for Luka Doncic, do me a favor and take a look at what the Pelicans got back for Anthony Davis, and then consider how Luka is 22 years old and already pretty close to being as impactful as Davis was when he was traded to the Lakers.

The main positive is that I think the Knicks get away with keeping both picks 1st rounders in 2023 in this kind of deal. They’d probably have to part with a little bit more if this were to actually happen but this is a fantasy scenario after all.

All in all, this was a fun little idea that I know would most likely never happen.

Potential Starting 5 after the trade: Derrick Rose, Luka Doncic, Alec Burks, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson

OR

The Knicks could leave Burks on the bench as their primary 2nd unit weapon and start Frank at the 2 for his defense. In this case, the starting lineup would be:

Derrick Rose, Frank Ntilikina, Luka Doncic, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson

They’d have enough offensive firepower between Luka, Julius Randle, and D-Rose to make up for the lack of offense coming from Mitch and Frank.