The 2023-24 season still hasn’t begun. Training camp is well over a month away, so what’s the point in thinking about what the New York Knicks will do at the trade deadline? Well, it’s no secret the Knicks are still searching for their big-name star to trade for. With how unpredictable the NBA is, a star (or several stars) could hit the market by February.
Evan Fournier is the likeliest player to be traded between now and the deadline. In an interview with French media outlet L’Equipe, he put Knicks management on blast and clarified that he doesn’t want to be in New York for another season. His $18.9 million salary for 2023-24 could be used in a trade for a star, whoever that may be.
On the flip side, a few players on the roster likely won’t be traded midway through next season. One of those players can’t be traded until after the deadline, but he probably wouldn’t be on the move anyways.
3 Knicks who will still be on roster after 2024 NBA trade deadline
3: Julius Randle
As a Knicks fan, you either love Julius Randle or despise him. How fans feel about him doesn’t matter when it comes to his future in New York. Randle is held in high regard by the front office, and the four-year extension he signed in 2021 is good value.
Yes, Randle is coming off a playoff performance where he had only a few good games. However, he was dealt a bad hand when he sprained his left ankle at the end of the regular season and then sprained the same ankle again in the first round of the playoffs.
He was far from the player that he was in the regular season, but part of that blame can be placed on the ankle that required him to have surgery this offseason.
Randle’s attitude was also a concern in the postseason, which can’t be attributed to his ankle. It was disheartening for Knicks fans to watch him seemingly give up on several plays. Overall, though, he looked like a different player than he did the season before, both mentally and physically.
Randle is vital to New York, and unless something major changes, he’s one player who should still be on the roster once the trade deadline passes.