Surefire to Long Shot: Ranking chance of 7 NBA stars landing with Knicks
No. 2: The Knicks’ chances with Trae Young
The final two players on the list have a very real path to being on the trade market this summer. Trae Young checks in at second on the list because there appear to be very real issues between him and the Atlanta Hawks organization, including head coach Nate McMillan. Does firing McMillan this summer placate Young? And are the Hawks already hedging by adding Dejounte Murray?
The Hawks are .500 this season with a complicated cap future. Young and Murray are not a great fit together, and if Young asks out this summer, it could make sense for the Hawks to find a landing place and then use those assets to retool around Murray. If so, the Knicks would be a perfect fit and would surely back up the truck of draft picks and young players to bring him on board.
So, why is Young not number one? The reality is that Young is a young perimeter star and the Hawks may bend over backward to keep him happy and avoid trading him, moving Murray instead or making other major changes this summer.
No. 1: The Knicks’ chances with Karl-Anthony Towns
The Minnesota Timberwolves traded everything not nailed down last summer to add Rudy Gobert. When he and Karl-Anthony Towns played together the Timberwolves were not good; with Towns injured the Wolves are much better. The Wolves’ future is putting the ball in the hands of Anthony Edwards. That’s a lot of facts that, when stacked together, build an arrow pointing Karl-Anthony Towns out of town.
Will Minnesota want to keep paying Towns a max contract just to be a glorified spot-up shooter? Can they afford to shift enough of the offense toward him given the fit challenges with Gobert? It looked like a mistake last summer and has only been proven out this year.
Yet that doesn’t mean Towns isn’t a true star, one of the best shooting centers in NBA history, with the skill to score from all angles. He also won’t have as robust of a market as players like Young and Lillard, which makes the Knicks that much more likely to land him.
No single one of these stars is likely to land on the New York Knicks, but all combined it’s likely that the Knicks land someone. Their willingness to be patient and wait out the right player shows foresight, and if they can continue to build the right supporting cast, adding a star could be the cherry on top that pushes the Knicks into championship contention.
