In Leon Rose’s first draft after being named president of the New York Knicks, he made a homerun trade. The Thunder drafted Immanuel Quickley with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but as part of a three-team trade, the Knicks acquired the draft rights to Quickley.
New York jumped up from the No. 27 pick (that was sent to Utah in a trade) for the No. 23 pick where Leandro Bolmaro was selected. Bolmaro was sent to Minnesota as part of the trade that landed Quickley in NYC. In retrospect, Sam Presti and Oklahoma City have to regret letting Quickley slip through their fingers.
In his first full season with the Timberwolves in 2021-22, Bolmaro averaged 1.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 35 games (two starts). Last offseason, Minnesota traded Bolmaro to the Jazz as part of the Rudy Gobert trade, where he averaged 0.4 points and 0.5 rebounds in 14 games. Utah bought Bolmaro out in February so that he could return to Europe to play in the Basketball Champions League.
Some more info on the Leandro Bolmaro move today: The Jazz bought him out so he can return to Europe.
— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) February 17, 2023
Knicks made money move in 2020 NBA Draft by trading Leandro Bolmaro for Immanuel Quickley
While Immanuel Quickley was the runner-up for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, Leandro Bolmaro has a career average of 6.3 points per game.
Bolmaro also shot 27% from the field and 22.7% from three in his two seasons in the league. He shot 40.2% from three when he played at Barcelona before coming over to play in the NBA, but his shot didn’t translate. It was a beneficial move for him to return to Europe where he can continue to develop and maybe one day return to the NBA.
New York has drafted well since Leon Rose joined the ship. In back-to-back years in 2017 and 18 before Rose’s arrival, the Knicks drafted Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox with two lottery picks. Ntilikina is in Dallas and Knox is fighting to stay in the league. Imagine what New York would look like if the team would’ve drafted Bolmaro with the intention of keeping him. There would be no Quickley burst off the bench.
Best wishes to Leandro Bolmaro, but the Knicks lucked out by getting Immanuel Quickley instead.
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