We all know about the New York Knicks‘ rather rough start to the season where, at one point, the team had lost six of eight, including a devastating blowout to the Dallas Mavericks, to drop to 10-13.
However, what we didn’t know, is that after that Mavericks loss, the front office was reportedly close to blowing the team up.
At the time, many fans wanted some sort of move to be made, whether it was a blockbuster deal like the tweet suggested, or simply firing head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Despite this near-massive shakeup, the Knicks have won seven games in a row since the loss to Dallas, making it highly unlikely that we see a massive trade happen anytime soon.
Knicks’ seven-game win streak may have halted potential blockbuster trade with Raptors
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, someone in the Knicks front office had reportedly reached out to the Raptors to gauge the price around defensive wing OG Anunoby.
"Internally, the Knicks were well aware that things were teetering. Before this most recent winning streak, someone from the club reached out to the Toronto Raptors to ask about trading for OG Anunoby. That’s a trade that would come at a significant cost — it’s not a move you make unless you know you have to shake up your roster."
"After their blowout loss to the Mavericks, there was speculation (grounded in reality) that the Knicks were a few defeats away from a major shakeup"
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 20, 2022
Julius Randle's approach may have saved the Knicks' season (via @IanBegley) https://t.co/jjMWRCXL7Z pic.twitter.com/mYvSXhImNd
As good as Anunoby is, with the way the Knicks are currently playing, it may be a blessing in disguise that they didn’t pull off this massive trade. Whether it would have been RJ Barrett or Julius Randle going to Toronto, who knows, but at the end of the day, we’re certainly glad to still have these two players if this turnaround is a sign of things to come.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe weighed in about Anunoby’s potential trade value, and it’s even better that the Knicks didn’t follow through with this.
“The entire league wants OG Anunoby. Everybody wants OG Anunoby. If he ever gets traded, the price and picks are going to surprise people because it might be on par almost with what the Cavs gave up for Donovan Mitchell”
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 20, 2022
- ESPN’s Zach Lowe pic.twitter.com/LyxYZuEfCT
Anunoby is averaging 18.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 47.4% from the field and 33.6% from 3-point range on 4.7 attempts. Additionally, he’s one of the best and most versatile defenders in the entire NBA.
But he’s not worth a Donovan Mitchell-esque trade package, so fans are quite glad the Knicks didn’t go all in to pull off this deal, regardless of the status of the team at that moment in time.
Would Anunoby make this team better? Without a doubt. However, all the assets the Knicks would need to surrender would cripple the team’s depth and could do more harm than good unless they can somehow make another high-impact move for much cheaper.
The front office will more than likely make some moves this season, with players like Evan Fournier, Cam Reddish, and Derrick Rose all holding some value while not currently being in the rotation. For now, though, we can rest easy knowing the team decided not to blow things up too early.
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Evan Fournier has been out of the New York Knicks' rotation for over a month now, but trading him during the season doesn't seem to be a priority.