NY Knicks: 3 prospects NY should NOT trade up for in 2021 NBA Draft

The NY Knicks should stay far, far away from Franz Wagner

Ok, so Franz Wagner has not had his name tied to the Knicks whatsoever, unlike the other 2 players I’ll be mentioning.

That said, I’m glad they haven’t because, from the eye test, I’m just not 100% certain as to why Wagner is being projected as high as he’s been.

He just doesn’t do it for me.

Even if he were still available at pick 19, if he were to slip that far down, I’d still be reluctant and would want to see who else was left on the board that may have more upside.

When assessing a prospect’s game, what I look for is which of their skills I’d consider being NBA ready.

That skill for Wagner is surely his defense.

Wagner projects to be more of a combo forward that can guard positions 2 through 4 with relative ease.

Here’s the problem…that’s basically all he’s got going for him at an elite level. That’s basically the only area where his upside projects to be above average at the NBA level.

I’ll be honest here, I haven’t watched many Michigan games, but in the ones that I did, nothing about Wagner really popped off the screen for me.

He struggles to create his own shot and isn’t a good shooter. He’s just ok…

So I just have a hard time understanding why he’s even projected as a lottery pick with the amount of talent throughout the rest of this class.

He’ll likely be a good, but not great, 3-and-D player at the next level, but nothing to write home about.

I hope he proves me wrong and I hope Franz turns into an All-Star one day, but that’s only if the Knicks were to draft him (lol).

If the Knicks did everything they could to move up and ended up with Franz Wagner, I’d be genuinely upset at first, but I’d learn to deal with it.