Here’s a trade that makes more sense than ESPN’s
How about the Knicks trade Noel in the deal instead of Robinson?
In this case, OKC gets a player who may not be young but is still a quality player on a good contract.
The Thunder could easily move on from Noel if they wanted to.
In fact, Noel has prior experience with the Thunder having played there from 2018-2020.
By swapping Noel for Robinson, the Knicks don’t deal away Robinson for less than what he’s worthwhile still making an upgrade at center.
The Knicks of course also still trade Knox and get a first-round pick out of it.
In conclusion, while I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a bad trade for New York, I think they can do better.
Knox isn’t hurting the team regardless of if the Knicks trade him or not.
They shouldn’t be using a player as valuable as Robinson as a sweetener to offload Knox, even if they get a FRP out of it.