NY Knicks: 1 Trade NY should have made and 1 they shouldn’t have
Should the NY Knicks have traded for Derrick Favors and a 1st?
$53 million.
That’s how much cap space the Knicks had going into this offseason and I mention that because they were in prime position to weaponize said cap space this summer.
It’s pretty evident that the front office is gearing towards making a huge, blockbuster trade at some point in the near future.
They’re making sure to hold on to their draft capital as tightly as possible while acquiring even more whenever possible.
To prove that, look no further than the deal that was made on draft night with the Clippers where the Knicks traded down from 21 to 25 and acquired a future 2nd round pick in the process.
They could have easily just taken Quentin Grimes with the 21st pick but instead took a chance on him falling and were compensated with an additional future draft asset.
New York currently has two first-round picks in 2022 and 2023…and could have had a second one in 2024 had they made this trade.
The Utah Jazz have agreed to trade C Derrick Favors and a future first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a future second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Jazz create some financial flexibility and Thunder grab another first-rounder.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 30, 2021
That first-round pick is top 10 protected in 2024 and top 8 protected in 2025.
I love Nerlens Noel, so don’t get me wrong here, but Derrick Favors is still a very serviceable center who provides a much higher scoring upside than Noel does.
Now granted, Thibs loves his defensive bigs and Noel is definitely the superior player in that regard but Favors is no slouch in that department either.
And to acquire yet another 1st round pick, albeit one that has some protections on it…they’re light protections in the sense that it’s very likely to be conveyed…all I’m saying is that the Knicks should have considered that deal more heavily.
Favors is set to make just a bit more this season than Noel is and has a player option on his contract for next year.
Although he’d likely accept that option, the Knicks are also likely to trade Nerlens Noel before he reaches his team option after 2 seasons anyway…so why not just replace Favors for Noel over the next 1.5 seasons?
That’s the real question here.
It’s obvious that the Knicks would arguably be better off with acquiring the 2024 first-rounder from Utah than not…so is Favors for a season and some change really that much worse off for the team than having Noel here for that time?