9 Players the New York Knicks gave up on way too soon

1. Zach Randolph

From one double-double machine to another, we return to the modern era and the most egregious case of the New York Knicks giving up on a player too soon. Zach Randolph was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2001 and became known for excellent post scoring and relentless behavioral issues.

Portland eventually gave up on Randolph themselves, trading him to the New York Knicks in the 2007 offseason for Steve Francis and Channing Frye (a double giving-up trade!). Randolph put up 17.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for the Knicks that following season. Still just 26 years old, he looked like a building block for a struggling Knicks franchise.

Then the Knicks said “sayonara” and sent him packing to the LA Clippers in exchange for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. Mobley would never play again because of a heart condition and Thomas was simply a bit player; the deal was to dump Randolph’s contract on the willing Clippers. The Knicks valued cap space more than Randolph’s contributions.

The Knicks would use that cap space to sign Amar’e Stoudemire when LeBron James spurned them in the summer of 2010, and Stoudemire had one good year for the Knicks before chronic injuries chopped him down.

Randolph, on the other hand, would continue doing the kind of basketball things you want from a big man: he scored, he rebounded, he grew as a defender. He made his way to the Memphis Grizzlies and became a beloved member of the Grit ‘N Grind Grizzlies, making numerous playoff runs. He would have been imminently more valuable to the Knicks than Stoudemire was.

The New York Knicks didn’t always give up on young talent, and they have had some players blossom under their watch. Yet their history features a number of talented players that were shipped out of town for win-now help, and the Knicks have to wish they hadn’t given up on them so soon.