We all know the New York Knicks are going to make a trade. They need to make a trade. But if a recent idea from The Ringer’s Zach Lowe is any indication, even New York’s most realistic targets could be a stretch.
Backup ball-handlers seem to top the Knicks’ wish list. As Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reports, though, they are also in the market for big-man depth behind Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson.
Speaking with ESPN’s Tim Legler on the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show, Lowe proposed a deal that would land New York Day’Ron Sharpe. While the name won’t bend anyone’s brain, it’s an excellent callout.
Sharpe is quietly piecing together a fantastic season for the Brooklyn Nets as a physical rebounder, quality finisher around the basket, and fair-weather rim protector. At first glance, he also seems eminently gettable. He earns just $6.3 million, and is a backup for one of the NBA’s foremost tankers.
Except, not so fast.
The Knicks’ available trade assets may be viewed less favorably than we thought
“I think the Knicks are going to do something where they turn [Guerschon] Yabusele plus [Pacome] Dadiet plus some seconds into a player who makes a little bit less money than those two do combined but can play for them,” Lowe says at around the 1:06:15 mark. “Someone threw out Day’Ron Sharpe. I think Day’Ron Sharpe has been better than that trade package.”
This is the mother of all reality checks.
The Knicks’ may not have much to offer if their core guys are off the table, but they have two Washington Wizards’ second-rounders coming to them. The first of the pair conveys this June, and would currently be No. 34. Trae Young’s arrival in the nation’s capital suggests the Wiz won’t be terrible next year, but their 2027 second remains more intriguing than most picks outside the top 30. New York can even include its own 2032 second.
If all of that isn’t enough to get Sharpe, the Knicks have problems. He’d be their third big—a quality third big, but a third big all the same.
Even if New York could get him, it’s harrowing to know that a solid backup big is its ceiling. A package that barely gets you Sharpe isn’t getting Ayo Dosumu or Jose Alvarado, let alone someone better than those two.
Knicks fans may need to adjust their expectations
Nobody is expecting the Knicks to swing a blockbuster acquisition. They’d struggle to do so even if they put one of their non-Jalen Brunson core players up for grabs.
Still, the hope all along has been that they could use matching salary and seconds to acquire someone worthy of a top-eight or -nine rotation spot. Perhaps that remains possible. But Lowe’s comments reinforce just how little trade value Yabusele and Dadiet have.
That is the fundamental issue at hand. Yabu and Dadiet remain unplayable. This would not be as much of a deterrent if they were expiring contracts. They’re not. New York picked up Dadiet’s third-year team option earlier this season, and Yabusele has a 2026-27 player option he’s bound to exercise.
This puts the Knicks in a position where they’ll have to fork over value just to convince teams to take on one or both of them. And with so few assets to begin with, this increases the chances that New York winds up doing absolutely nothing, or only succeeds in cutting salary without bringing back meaningful value.
Maybe this is all a misread of the trade market, or the value of the second-rounders at the Knicks’ disposal. If it’s not, they could be forced into inaction, inconsequential action, or more precariously, the type of action that has them gauging the value of Robinson or Deuce McBride.