NY Knicks: 3 levels of trades involving Elfrid Payton

Elfrid Payton NY Knicks Trade #3 – Lonzo Ball & JJ Redick

So, this one is a bit of a long-shot for two reasons; Elfrid Payton may not waive his no-trade clause to go to New Orleans and the Pelicans may want more out of this deal, undeservingly so.

The 2021 Knicks’ 1st rounder would be lottery protected for just this season, and if the Knicks were to absolutely implode and fall within the lottery, the pick would convert to a 2022 2nd and some variant of a future 2nd.

Fingers crossed that the Knicks’ first-rounder ends up somewhere in the 20’s due to how much better the team would be with Lonzo Ball.

I feel like the deal is more than fair, but knowing David Griffin he’d probably want more than what I even offered.

If I’m the Knicks, I approach Payton and tell him that we’re benching him in favor of Derrick Rose regardless, so come off the bench for us and play out the year here OR go play for your hometown team for a little while and potentially get a decently sized contract elsewhere.

The Pelicans kinda stink, so once mid-April and early-May roll around, there’s a far better chance of Payton getting more playing time while auditioning for a new team and a decently sized, multi-year contract.

If this trade were to be close to going through, I’d ask Worldwide Wes to have a sit-down meeting with LaVar Ball and Co. beforehand and see what Lonzo would be looking to make on his next contract.

There’s speculation that some teams would be willing to pay Ball upwards of $20 million annually, something I would hate to see the Knicks do.

Seeing how the Knicks would have the ability to match any offer he gets, that is an advantage for them going into the summer, but not for that price tag.

If Lonzo is willing to stay a Knick for something around $17 million per season over 4 years with a player option in the last year, I’m down for the cause.