With so many questions swirling around the New York Knicks a little more than one month into the season, it’s become abundantly, uncomfortably clear that this team doesn’t need a trade.
It needs multiple trades.
This isn’t what you want to read about a squad that has zero first-round picks to dangle, and within $150,000 of the second-apron threshold they cannot cross. The Knicks should be close to a finished product—a bankable powerhouse—for all they have expended to build this core.
They’re not. And they need to accept as much. Expecting this team to hit all of the right notes without making any changes would be a recipe for disappointment.
The Knicks have multiple needs to address
If it’s any consolation, this isn’t an attempt to demand that New York pursue a star.
Sure, things change if Giannis Antetokounmpo gets eyes for the Big Apple again. Short of that, the Knicks are better off steering clear of the flashiest names, for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is any big-time deal would gut their rotation because they don’t have picks or tantalizing youngsters to dangle.
New York, in fact, has enough needs without contemplating more consolidation.
SNY’s Ian Begley writes that the team is expected to kick the tires on a backup point guard. You could argue the Knicks need another rim protector, given Mitchell Robinson’s limited availability and lackluster defense, and Karl-Anthony Towns’ own shortcomings.
Meanwhile, you could, and should, make the case that OG Anunoby’s absence has proven New York needs another big wing more than anything. This is before even getting to the latest Landry Shamet shoulder injury. If he is going to miss extensive time—or the rest of the season—the Knicks’ perimeter rotation suffers yet another hit that cannot go unaddressed.
One trade isn’t going to solve everything
Prioritizing one of these roster issues over the others will not be tantamount to a panacea. If the Knicks are limited to one acquisition, there will be persisting concerns almost regardless of who they’re bringing back.
To what end they can check some combination of these boxes is debatable. They are not completely barren of assets, but landing multiple rotation players gets tough when your biggest nonessential salary is Guerschon Yabusele, at $5.5 million. Even landing someone like Ayo Dosunmu—who remedies multiple problems, and is making only $7.5 million—will cost multiple players.
This changes if the Knicks are willing to exchange a more expensive player for two or three other names. Good luck figuring out who becomes collateral damage in this scenario.
Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby are off-limits. Mikal Bridges is playing too well to use as a divesting asset; he has to stay if they’re not bagging a superstar. Josh Hart is the emotional touchstone of this entire group. Towns’ contract is among the most divisive in the league, and likely tougher to move than most think.
The best and most realistic version of the Knicks’ trade deadline features them scooping up at least two cheap players without touching the top seven of their rotation. If even that aim proves too ambitious, they have one of two options: do something more serious, if not nuclear, or stand relatively pat in hopes a team that is currently neither deep enough nor certain enough to win it all carves out the identity that’s so far eluded them.