NY Knicks: 3 Obi Toppin trades NY should consider this season

Should the NY Knicks send Obi Toppin to Houston?

I’ll be honest…I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the first two slides of this article but no clue what direction I wanted to go in for this last one.

But it turned out to be my favorite trade.

My goal was to find a rebuilding team where Obi could find a prominent role that had players or picks that the Knicks would be interested in acquiring.

The Houston Rockets have entered the chat.

Since they have basically every draft pick in every draft here on forward, they can stand to trade away a few.

Brooklyn’s pick will be a late 1st, but who cares?

That makes three first-rounders and SEVEN second-round selections in the 2023 ‘double draft’.

New York also acquires a defensive specialist in Usman Garuba out of Spain who was drafted 23rd overall in the 2021 NBA Draft.

One of if not the most versatile defender in this year’s draft class, Garuba would fit a Thibs ran team like a glove.

Oh, and guess who represents Usman as his agent…Leon Rose’s son!

I have a better time justifying Garuba being given about 15 minutes per game at the backup 4 as a former 23rd overall pick much more than I can stomach Obi only getting that many minutes as a former 8th overall pick.

Plus, Garuba can play a little 3 if needed but could easily fill in at the 5 if the Knicks wanted to go small for certain matchups.

To make the numbers work, I sent DJ Augustin to the Thunder along with a Knicks 2nd rounder for taking on the salary.

He’d likely be waived or bought out after.

Houston gets Obi who arguably has the higher ceiling but would never be realized as a Knick and the Knicks get a replacement frontcourt player and another 1st to add to their collection.
I love this trade.