The New York Knicks should be flattered that Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly has gaga eyes for them. They should also be terrified that his interest becomes an unnecessary distraction.
There won’t be anything for the Knicks to worry about if the chatter subsides. Except, it doesn’t sound like it will.
Giannis is expected to continuously re-evaluate his future with the Milwaukee Bucks moving forward, and New York topped his preliminary offseason wishlist, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. If the Knicks had Giannis’ attention over the summer, they should still have it in February, or next summer.
While the looming specter of blockbuster-trade sweepstakes is catnip for transaction junkies, it also presents New York with its biggest obstacle of the season—before it even officially begins.
Players are the Knicks’ only trade assets
Persistent trade speculation has a way of grating on players, and overall organization dynamics. Constantly hearing that the team for which you play is hot on the trail of a big name whose arrival would force you to change teams lends itself to all sorts of uncertainty, and frustration.
This is (part of) why NBA players earn big-time money. But it doesn’t negate their humanity. They get mentally rankled and fatigued just like the rest of us.
Ignoring the Giannis murmurings would be easier for the Knicks’ current cast of players if the team had a bunch of different pathways to completing a trade. They don’t. Their blueprint for landing him is straightforward: He has to demand a trade to New York alone, and they must build their best offer around anyone and everyone not named Jalen Brunson.
Such is the peril of having zero outright first-round picks to ship out this season. The Knicks’ players must do all of the heavy lifting in prospective packages.
This is a reality that could be particularly difficult for OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns to navigate. They are at once New York’s best trade assets and, in some combination, the most likely forms of salary-matching in any Giannis trade.
New York’s resolve is about to be tested
The timing of this rumor is beyond tough. The Knicks are already trying to perfect a new offensive approach under Mike Brown, and at the bare minimum, this temporarily disrupts from that focus.
Questions now abound in the aftermath of Giannis’ reported interest, the most important of which is: How do the Knicks respond if and when they hit an extended rough patch? The Giannis rumors will inevitably crop back up when that happens. New York’s well-documented interest in him could sow seeds of discord, or disorganization. Brown’s ability to keep his team aligned knowing major overhaul could await will be tested.
Then again, to some extent, this was always the case. The Knicks are in Finals-or-bust territory. Significant changes await if they fail to meet expectations.
It likewise helps that Giannis is unlikely to be moved midseason. Even if he has eyes for only The Big Apple, Bridges can’t be traded until just before the Feb. 5 deadline, and New York won’t have first-round picks to include until the summer. That gives the Knicks one more season to prove this core is worth keeping intact—a timeline they were operating on all along.