NY Knicks should sign Lonzo Ball in upcoming offseason

With the NBA trade deadline about a week away, the NY Knicks are constantly being mentioned in Lonzo Ball-related trade rumors.

According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the team does have interest in Lonzo but supposedly plans on waiting to sign him outright this offseason instead of making a trade where they’d lose valuable assets.

Unfortunately, with all of the injuries that Knicks’ point guards have endured this season, the team may be forced to make a move earlier than they’d like to. My colleagues here at Daily Knicks have explored the possibility of a trade before but I’m here to explain why the Knicks should wait.

Should the NY Knicks trade for Lonzo Ball or sign him in the offseason?

Lonzo Ball is undoubtedly one of the more polarizing players in the league.

Many believe he’s a draft bust. This is because he came into the league with a crazy amount of draft hype.

After an excellent year at UCLA, fans thought he was the league’s next all-time great point guard, often getting compared to Jason Kidd.

In his first couple of years in the league, Lonzo struggled mightily with his shooting but he still showed flashes of being a very good player.

While Lonzo certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype at this stage of his career those that have been paying attention know that his career has been on the upswing ever since he was traded to the Pelicans.

This year, Lonzo is currently in the middle of a career season. He started off the year struggling but as of late he’s really found his groove.

On the year he’s averaging 14 points per game which is a career high, 5.5 assists and he’s shooting 39% from 3 on a high volume of 8 attempts per game.

He’s an absolute sniper from downtown and his scoring off the dribble has gotten much better as well. His finishing at the basket is a lot better as he’s currently shooting 58% within 5 feet of the basket and his scoring from midrange is much improved.

Along with the hot shooting, Lonzo has remained a great defender and playmaker. Don’t let Lonzo’s lower assists numbers fool you — The Pelicans have taken the ball out of Lonzo’s hands this year and given it to Brandon Ingram but his court vision and passing acumen are still ridiculous.

In the Pelicans’ recent loss to the Blazers, he managed to dish out 17 assists!

So as we can see Lonzo has turned himself into a pretty good player and at still just 23 years old his upside is probably pretty high.

For the Knicks, he checks a lot of boxes. We all know point guard is the Knicks’ weakness and Ball would give the Knicks some much-needed shooting and playmaking at the starting point guard position.

Many fans want Immanuel Quickley to be the point guard of the future but I don’t think he’s ready yet and Coach Thibodeau has preferred to use him as mainly a backup combo guard anyway.

Payton is a backup point guard who’s been utilized as a starter and while Derrick Rose can definitely score, I also believe his true role is a backup.

Frank Ntilikina has been out of the rotation for most of the year and recently we’re starting to see why…he just went 4 straight games without scoring a single point.

Yes his defense is good but you’re not helping the team that much when you’re useless on the offensive end.

Lonzo Ball would be a huge upgrade at the point guard position for the Knicks and he would also fit the Knicks’ timeline.

The key is what would the price be?

Bobby Marks of ESPN says he doubts the Pelicans match an offer over 18 million, so maybe a 4 year 72 million dollar offer gets it done. As long as the price is right Lonzo would be an incredible addition this offseason.

Right now, I don’t think it would be wise for the Knicks to use valuable resources in a trade for Lonzo as they can just wait to sign him for nothing in the summer.