NY Knicks: Three Bold Predictions for Next Season
By Max Hoover
NY Knicks: A big trade will happen by the trade deadline.
This may be the worst kept secret in the NBA.
I’m personally excited about the squad we have right now. The potential is there for the Knicks to build on last year’s success. Kemba’s homecoming is a heartwarming narrative, and I love the Evan Fournier addition. RJ should take another leap. Getting Mitch back will make a huge impact.
I also think Julius Randle is the only player I would feel comfortable guaranteeing right now is still a Knick after the trade deadline.
For everyone else, my answer would be the same: “It depends on what’s out there.”
The way Leon Rose and his team navigated both the draft and free agency points to the idea that they plan to make a splash when the water presents itself. Rose was brought in to be a cannonball man.
It’s a possibility that superstar trade comes this year before the trade deadline. Maybe the Damian Lillard situation finally boils over. Maybe Bradley Beal opts to leave Washington this year rather than in the offseason. Maybe the Knicks decide Ben Simmons is a good fit with their young core. (Relax, he’s better than you act like he is.) Maybe someone we haven’t even considered forces their way out.
The superstar trade is one potential route for this bold prediction to come true. However, I think it is the lesser of two likely possibilities.
The more likely possibility is that the Knicks trade Mitchell Robinson.
I’ve never met Robinson (he seems like a decent enough guy), but my gut tells me he wants to get paid. Why shouldn’t he?
My gut also tells me the Knicks won’t want to pay him the number he wants.
So, Rose will be sitting with his team at the trade deadline staring at two options: Letting him walk for nothing in the offseason or extracting some kind of value from him at the trade deadline. Given those options, trading him would be the smart business move.
Let me not mince words: I am not advocating trading Mitchell Robinson. I’m simply acknowledging that well-run franchises do not let valuable assets walk for nothing. If that is the position the Knicks find themselves in with Robinson at the trade deadline though, he’s as good as gone.
Whichever way they go, I’m boldly predicting the Knicks will make some big trade by the deadline this season.