NY Knicks: Jonas Valanciunas would be a dream trade target

After suffering a heartbreaking loss to the Lakers in primetime on Saturday, the NY Knicks are yet again kind of sitting in limbo when it comes to the NBA landscape.

With a record of 24-29 on the season, the Knicks are withering away all the way down in the 12th seed.

The front office has some choices to make ahead of Thursday’s trading deadline.

Really, what they have to start talking about is if this team actually has enough talent on it where they should be buyers at the deadline or if they should try to trade off some of their veterans for younger pieces and draft capital and start to re-tool.

The team’s core is young and should remain that way in my opinion.

I think they’d be much better off if they tried to refocus on building through the draft and by acquiring any and all young talent they can get their hands on, such as Cam Reddish.

Should the NY Knicks trade for Jonas Valanciunas this summer?

But if they were to want to try to compete in the near future, going after a stretch-5 could be a quick fix and would help them possibly creep their way into the play-in tournament next season, or perhaps even better than that.

With the recent emergence of RJ Barrett since 2022 began and an uptick in performance coming from Julius Randle as of late, perhaps the team thinks it’s only a piece or two away from at least making it into the playoffs.

That’s where the idea of a future Jonas Valanciunas trade comes into play.

Now I highly doubt the Pelicans would be too interested in trading him after they just got him in a deal for Steven Adams last offseason.

But with so much uncertainty surrounding Zion’s injury status within the organization, perhaps they start getting rid of the players who they brought in to help build around Williamson.

Just to clarify, Jonas isn’t eligible to be traded until the offseason due to his re-signing back in September, so the trade in question would not be possible before this week’s deadline.

Depending on how the rest of the season goes and what if any moves are made between now and Thursday, this could be a viable trade around draft night.

The Knicks move on from two of their veterans in Kemba Walker and Nerlens Noel while moving a protected 2023 first-rounder from Dallas.

In exchange, the Knicks acquire a great, modern-day Center in Valanciunas.

This kind of trade would make perfect sense if the Knicks were to potentially lose Mitchell Robinson in free agency.

Jonas would provide the Knicks with a big man who is shooting 40% from deep on the season and averaged about 12 boards per game.

He immediately would be one of the better offensive Centers the Knicks have had in over a decade.

With all of the talk about the Knicks’ interest in Myles Turner all season, I believe New York could acquire the Lithuanian for a fraction of the cost this summer.

This trade of course would only make sense if the Knicks found a way to turn things around this season first.