After trying numerous times to trade for Yves Missi to back up Karl-Anthony Towns, the New York Knicks may get another crack at landing him from the New Orleans Pelicans. And they have the Bennedict Mathurin signing to thank.
Though nothing appears to be finalized yet, Mathurin is set to join the Pelicans on a two-year, $16 million contract. Early projections have New Orleans paying him around $7.8 million next season, which would put the organization more than $2 million into the luxury tax.
If you have followed the NBA for any length of time at all, you know the Pelicans aren’t going to let that payroll stand. They have never finished the season over the luxury tax, and after winning just 26 games last year, there’s no way they’re about to start now.
The Pelicans’ financial crunch could be good news for the Knicks
Not surprisingly, Shamit Dua of In The N.O. reports that New Orleans is expected to make a “small corresponding move to open up some space under the luxury tax, and create a roster spot for Mathurin.” This ostensibly reopens the door for the Knicks to inquire about Missi, who they’ve kept tabs on since at least this past winter.
Granted, the Pelicans have other cost-cutting maneuvers to explore. Wiping Missi’s $3.5 million salary from the ledger would do the trick, but he’s still no worse than their second-string center. He isn’t someone you trade just because.
The Knicks also need to sweeten the pot. Their freshly restocked second-round stash will come in handy, but they’ll need to suss out a third team to absorb the money they themselves must send out. A deal for the Pelicans doesn’t make too much sense unless they’re ducking the tax, and New York isn’t allowed to take back more salary than it sends out.
Considering who the Knicks would need to ship out for Missi, this is a small-potatoes objective. Plenty of teams, including perhaps the Pelicans, would be happy to take on Deuce McBride’s $4 million salary. The task at hand gets a little dicier if New York prefers to send out Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek, but it’d still be lightyears from impossible.
Yves Missi’s availability is worth revisiting
New York desperatately needs to add another playable big man to the rotation. Seeing Nick Richards sign with the Miami Heat may actually have been a blessing in disguise, but it also left the Knicks with fewer plausible options on the free-agent market.
Perhaps this was the plan all along: to wait for the big-man trade to further develop, and yield a better alternative than someone who’d struggle to meet the third-center standard. For all his imperfections, Missi certainly qualifies as a “better alternative.”
His finishing around the rim needs work, but that should improve amid New York’s spacing. The defensive rebounding comes and goes, but he’s a try-hard on the offensive glass. And while he’s not what you’d call a net-positive defender, he offers more mobility and resistance at the basket these days than Andre Drummond. Missi ranked in the 84th percentile of points saved at the rim per 100 possessions last season.
To be sure, Mathurin’s arrival doesn’t automatically guarantee the Pelicans will peddle Missi up and down the trade market. But their intention to duck the tax demands they do something. If nothing else, this is an invitation for the Knicks to revisit a trade target they’ve had their eyes on for a while.
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