The NY Knicks most likely drafted Obi Toppin with the idea in mind of him eventually being their starting Power Forward and potentially dealing Julius Randle by this year’s trade deadline.
Now, clearly, that’s not happening.
I spent enough time being the “good guy” and trying to continue the Knicks’ rebuild by possibly trading for some rookies or waiting to bring in some players who might be bought out.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I’ve done a couple of these “3 levels of trades’ articles and people have really liked them so far.
Exploring the different possibilities of what the Knicks can get back for just the player mentioned by themselves, or what could come of a trade with a bunch of moving parts is exciting.
I’ll acknowledge that I don’t believe the Knicks are going to make any huge splashes this year and may opt to wait for the summer to pull off a blockbuster or make a huge signing or two.
But, it can’t hurt to play around with the possibilities.
Should the NY Knicks explore a trade involving Obi Toppin?
Obi Toppin has shown flashes of what he can one day become but overall, he’s struggling and being completely overshadowed by a player drafted 17 spots later than he was in Immanuel Quickley.
On draft night, many believed that Toppin wouldn’t make it down to pick number 8, so watching Leon Rose raise his fists in the air with excitement in his first-ever draft with the Knicks made sense.
Since then, between Obi struggling as most rookies do and not getting nearly enough playing time behind King Julius, it seems maybe the rookie could be expendable for a ‘win now’ Knicks team.
Here we explore 3 levels of trade for Obi Toppin:
NY Knicks trade #1 – Obi Toppin to Charlotte
With all this talk of Terry Rozier being a target of the Knicks, it feels like the player that makes more sense in the situation is Devonte’ Graham.
Graham spent the early portion of the year struggling but has since picked up his level of play and has resorted back to the marksman from deep of old.
Graham is in the final year of his rookie contract and would surely need to be paid next season, but shouldn’t be demanding too much on an annual basis.
For what the Knicks need from him, somewhere between $10-14 million per year on a 3-year contract should do the trick.
Graham would be joining his 2018 LOADED 2nd round classmate in Mitchell Robinson who was actually picked just 2 spots after Graham.
The Knicks make this move because they lack shooting and playmaking. Finding a replacement for the limited minutes Obi is playing is a lot easier than finding someone with the shooting touch that Graham possesses.
While not exactly known for his playmaking ability, Graham quietly averaged 7.5 assists per game last season, and even this year with rookie phenom, LaMelo Ball running the point, Graham is still averaging almost 6 assists per game.
He’d come in and be the best facilitating guard on the team immediately.
As far as the Hornets, they’re going to be in ‘cap-space hell’ pretty soon, so flipping a guy they’re gonna have to pay a nice contract to keep when they’re stacked at the guard position doesn’t make a lot of sense.
They also lack depth at the 4 and the 5 positions, so Obi makes a lot of sense there.
Obi is already a Jordan brand athlete, might as well go play for the guy.
NY Knicks trade #2 – Obi Toppin to Sacramento
Every week or two, I’m going to trade for Buddy Hield and try to write it into existence.
Can the Kings just blow it all up already? It’s time.
Buddy Hield has openly voiced his displeasure with the Kings and Coach Luke Walton enough times to make a case for why he’s struggling this year; he doesn’t want to be there!
Because Buddy is struggling, I think he can be had on the cheap as the Kings cannot successfully rebuild with Hield’s big contract on their books.
Buddy Hield is the perfect complement to a team that runs their offense through Julius Randle and RJ Barrett.
A bigger guard standing just shy of 6’5, Hield has shown that he can be an elite 3-point shooter and if he’s brought into a better environment where he’s happier and winning, I’m certain he can return to his previous form.
With Derrick Rose running the point, Buddy at the 2, RJ at the 3, Julius at the 4, and Mitch at the 5, along with Quickley, Burks, and Noel off the bench…you can’t tell me that’s not at least the 5th best team in the East. Change my mind!
If only the Knicks would choose to either bench Elfrid Payton or trade him, it would mean the Knicks would have a far superior playmaker and scorer in Rose as their point guard, a 16 point per game sharpshooter at the 2-spot with room to improve, and the Knicks keep their 2 double-digit bench scorers in IQ and Burks along with ‘Mitchell Robinson-lite’ over there in Nerlens Noel.
The only thing that could make this situation better would be if the Knicks found a way to trade for Lonzo Ball also. #ZO2NY
NY Knicks trade #3 – Obi Toppin to Detroit
I’ve traded for Jerami Grant in the past and I got a bunch of feedback from it, so might as well revisit the idea.
Some thought I was giving up too much, others thought it wasn’t enough, but in conclusion, it seemed that a lot of readers liked the idea of bringing Grant to the Knicks.
As some may know, front offices in the NBA have teams that they refuse to do business with and teams they commonly do business with based on previously built relationships.
It would be weird to see a trade happen between 2 organizations twice within the same season, but it’s obviously possible.
Can’t think of any times that’s happened in recent history but I’m sure someone who reads this can tell me in the comments.
But I digress…
Jerami Grant is one of the best ‘3-and’D’ players in the league and is playing at an all-star caliber level.
His ability to play and defend multiple positions is huge for a team that has been stricken by injury lately.
I could see Grant filling in at the Small Forward between RJ Barrett and Julius Randle quite nicely.
Grant wouldn’t be ‘the man’ as he is in Detroit, but he’d be the 2nd best player on the team until RJ Barrett inevitably surpasses him in the near future, and that’s ok with me.
Grant’s overall numbers would probably take a dip across the board, but one thing I could see taking a bit of a jump is his 3-point field goal percentage.
Grant has shown that he does more with less. When you take a look at his numbers from previous seasons when he was taking between 3-4 threes per game, he was shooting them at a nearly 40% clip.
This season he’s being asked to do more and has been shooting close to 7 threes per contest and making them just under 36% of the time.
The Knicks would probably require him to take between 5 and 6 three-pointers per contest so his averages might increase a bit.
Perfect fit for Coach Thibs if ya ask me!