To piggyback off of a previous article of mine where I speculated which 5 superstars could force a trade to the NY Knicks within the next 12 months, the one that stood to in my mind the most was Damian Lillard. Dame, as previously mentioned in said article, is my favorite NBA player of current times.
Where he lacks in freakish size and athleticism, he makes up with determination, grit, and the will to win.
Coming out of Weber State, a small college program whose most notable player to make it to the NBA is a player named Eddie Gill who was drafted in the year 2000 and spent 8 seasons in the league with a career point per game average of 3…needless to say, Dame didn’t have the highest of expectations when he was drafted.
Lillard has gotten better year over year since his rookie season.
What I admire most about the guy is his loyalty to the city of Portland and the Trail Blazers.
He refuses to leave the small-market team that took a chance on him years ago and wants to stick around and build a championship-winning team and bring a title back to Oregon.
Until now…
Could the NY Knicks ever make a move for Damian Lillard?
I’m here to save Mr. Lillard and bring him home to the city that never sleeps.
Let’s face it already, he’s never winning a title in Portland.
Their front office has been tinkering with different ways to try to bring enough talent to the team to surround Dame with a winner, to no avail.
Why come to the Knicks then? The epitome and the manifestation of decades of mediocrity?
Because the tides have turned and the Knicks are a competent organization from the top down for once.
They are in the largest basketball market in the universe, after all.
With Dame and Julius Randle at the helm, along with some other key components that will surely want to follow, both the Knicks and Damian Lillard will be competing for a title within the next few years.
Here’s a trade I thought up:
Right off the bat, how am I going to turn down a chance to bring Carmelo Anthony back to The Garden?
He’s coming back home and rocking a #7 jersey like he’s supposed to be…I don’t know what this double-zero nonsense is all about but I’m having none of it.
The Knicks would also be absorbing Robert Covington’s contract as this trade would surely spark a rebuild for Portland, so might as well attach “RoCo’s” salary to the deal.
Covington did spend a short period of time coached by Tom Thibodeau in which he scored 14.5 points per game and shot 37% from deep, per Basketball-Reference. Maybe Thibs could reignite RoCo’s fire and get him back to playing like he used to.
The best part about the trade is that I think the Knicks could get away with keeping Mitch as their defensive anchor in the paint considering all the other assets they’re sending over in the deal.
Portland would be getting both 2021 first-round picks, the right to swap in 2022, and both 2023 first-rounders.
Fun little idea and while I am certain it would never happen in real life, if I’m Leon rose and this offer presented itself to me, with no hesitation I’m pulling the trigger.
Potential Starting 5 after the trade: Damian Lillard, Frank Ntilikina, Carmelo Anthony, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson
Derrick Rose and RoCo coming off the bench as the 6th and 7th men in the rotation.
I opted for Frank at the 2-spot for his defense on the wing more so than anything else.
*insert a photoshopped image of Damian Lillard in a #0 Knicks jersey here*