With the way things are going through 48 games played this season, should they not make any roster adjustments and rotational shakeups soon the NY Knicks could find themselves right back where they were during the seven lowly seasons prior to last year’s Cinderella story run — playoff-less and stationed within the draft lottery.
Luckily, however, there’s still hope that Leon Rose and co. can get this team moving in the right direction and, in turn, have New York take part in a much-needed mid-season turnaround, and said hope obviously is tied to the prospect of potentially seeing the franchise taking part in some sort of transaction on the trade market between now and February’s deadline.
Looking at this Knicks team and how they operate, there are a multitude of routes the front office can take during this year’s trade season to better equip the team with the proper tools to make a late run during this year’s campaign — from pursuing promising youngsters to an all-out blockbuster, there are supposedly a plethora of outcomes that we could see for the Knickerbockers.
Should the NY Knicks trade for Caris LeVert?
Of course, should they ultimately find themselves engaging with other ball clubs to potentially execute some sort of deal, the one thing they mustn’t do is panic and simply make a move for the sake of making a move and, recently, the folks at Bleacher Report concocted a trade scenario where they do exactly that, as writer, Greg Swartz, goes on to swap Evan Fournier and a first-round pick for the likes of Indiana Pacers wing, Caris LeVert.
The exact trade reads as follows:
Within this section of his ‘panic trades’ piece, Swartz cites NY’s need for extra scorers and playmakers to have run alongside Julius Randle as a reason for the team to consider dealing for the sixth-year pro while also stating that dealing the relatively underwhelming Fournier just one year into his four-year, $72 million deal could be quite an easy decision for them to make:
"Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer lists the Knicks as one of LeVert’s “known suitors”, as the 27-year-old is a gifted scorer and playmaker with the ball in his hands. He’s averaging 18.4 points and 4.1 assists in 30.6 minutes per game this season.Fournier hasn’t lived up to his contract in New York, so using him as a the salary base in the deal is a bonus for the Knicks as well.Indiana could actually use Fournier’s floor-spacing abilities given the team’s 32.8 percent mark from three this season (26th in the NBA).However, they do the deal primarily because of the Knicks’ first-rounder—a pick that is currently projected to fall 12th overall."
Now yes, it is a fair assessment when Swartz says the NY Knicks could use for some extra scorers and playmakers within their rotation, and, by all accounts, LeVert does provide these attributes.
Having said that, it is the way in which he puts forth this production that concerns us about a potential acquisition.
Frankly, alongside these aforementioned qualities, what the NY Knicks need is a player who can thrive without the ball in their hands for a large portion of the game (considering Julius Randle will serve as the primary ball-handler) and who can serve as a quality long-range marksman to help better space the floor.
LeVert is many things, but he is not either of these two.
Not only does he require a rather high usage rate in order to put up the numbers he currently is this year (boasts a 27.3 USG%, a number he almost certainly would not receive in New York), but he’s not really known as an efficient shooter in the slightest (converting on just 33 percent of his from deep this year).
Say what you will about Fournier, but the man is a career 38 percent shooter from deep and is converting on 39 percent of his attempts from distance this year with a usage rate of just 21 percent, and these splits have proven to be an absolute blessing for the ball club when he finds himself in a groove.
In fact, considering how he’s been playing since the calendar year changed to 2022 (15.5 points and three boards per game on 46 percent shooting from deep since January 2nd), one could argue that the French-born pro could actually be turning a corner during his inaugural season in New York.
Add in that the team literally just traded for a former lottery selected wing who’s five years younger in Cam Reddish coupled with the fact that LeVert has a semi-extensive injury/ concerning health history and we simply don’t see much reason, if any, for the NY Knicks to pursue the 27-year-old.
No matter how good he is/can be, we believe he’d be an awful fit for the current makeup of this team.