NY Knicks: 3 levels of trades involving Elfrid Payton

Elfrid Payton being traded as far away from the NY Knicks has been a hope for the bulk of the fanbase for quite a while now.

I’ve said this before and I will continue to say it…I do not hate Elfrid Payton. I just don’t think he is a starting-caliber point guard in the NBA.

Spot starts when your main guy is injured, sure.

His skill set is much better suited for a reserve role off of the bench.

If the Knicks committed Payton to the bench in place of Immanuel Quickley or Derrick Rose, this would be a much less enticing conversation for me.

I’ve explored trades for Elfrid Payton a few times in the past and they’ve always managed to get people talking and discussing.

He may be one of the more polarizing Knicks to ever exist, in my opinion.

Some love the guy, some dislike him.

But for me…while he just doesn’t do it for me as my favorite team’s starter, I could happily exist in a world where Elfrid Payton was one of the leaders of the second unit.

Should the NY Knicks explore a trade for Elfrid Payton?

I can’t wrap my head around the love affair Coach Thibs has with this guy.

Maybe it’s that he’s a veteran, maybe it’s his defense, maybe it’s his ‘grit’…no matter the real reason, it ain’t enough to help the team win games.

The Knicks just look like a more well-put-together team when either Rose or Quickley are playing with the starters.

He’s not a good playmaker, he provides little floor-spacing, and he has shown countless times that he only has eyes for Julius Randle, therefore he doesn’t help to make anyone else better on the team.

Elfrid Payton’s stats in several important categories for a point guard have absolutely fallen off a cliff from last season until now (per cleaningtheglass.com).

Needless to say, if the Knicks have a decent trade offer on the table between now and March 25th, I would have to believe they would take it.

Now, as far as this article is concerned…the one thing that must be kept in mind here would be that Payton does have a no-trade clause on his contract, so his fit on the team he’s traded to must make sense.

Here we’ll be exploring 3 trades involving Elfrid Payton.