Amid a torrent of trade speculation, the New York Knicks might just wind up making a move that shocks everyone: making no move at all.
Embracing inaction will not sit right with fans. Everyone would be more open to the idea if the Knicks kept rolling after winning the NBA Cup. They have instead sputtered, at both ends of the floor.
Counting on the returns of Josh Hart and Landry Shamet to infuse the rotation with everything it lacks rings hollow. They will help, desperately so, but New York has a laundry list of needs and question marks that Hart and Shamet don’t completely address.
Some type of move therefore seems inevitable, be it for a backup big man, another a ball-handler, or a reserve wing. The ceiling on such a trade, though, seems lower than before—not solely because the Knicks don’t have a ton of assets, but because they may be setting their sights higher after this season.
The Knicks could look to preserve assets for a bigger move later
Trading any combination of a could-be intriguing pick from the Washington Wizards, your own first-round swaps, Deuce McBride, and Tyler Kolek removes them from prospective packages over the summer, when New York will have two outright firsts to dangle. That seems innocuous on its face. But what happens if Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes available this offseason? Or what if the long-rumored Leon Rose favorite Jaren Jackson Jr. hits the block as the Memphis Grizzlies inch closer to a reset?
No, the Knicks are not winning any bidding frenzies. It doesn’t matter whether they take place now, or over the summer. But needle-nudging moves aren’t always about assets.
With Giannis specifically, New York benefits from already having his attention. Beyond that, the NBA appears to be entering an era in which big-money deals for flawed stars are no longer as readily movable, let alone magnets for big returns.
Desmond Bane getting the Grizzlies four first-round picks last offseason suggests otherwise. The Trae Young trade return counterbalances that. Ditto for the Ja Morant discussions currently taking place. And let’s not forget about the relative crickets surrounding the prospective availability of Domantas Sabonis, Anthony Davis, and Zach LaVine.
To be sure, these names should not be on the Knicks’ wish list. But it’s suddenly a modest journey from AD and Ja having few suitors to someone like Jackson scaring away certain admirers because he’s owed $205 million over the next four years.
Fearless spending, not to be confused with reckless spending, could be the next trade-market inefficiency. The Knicks will be better positioned to capitalize on it over the offseason—provided they have conserved what few assets could be at their disposal.
This does not run counter to the Knicks’ title hopes
Holding serve at the trade deadline is not as unforgivable as it seems. Even if the Knicks put their most aggressive offers on the table, they’ll be hard-pressed to do more than tweak and twiddle on the margins without knifing into their core.
New York’s most frequently talked-about targets say it all. From Jose Alvarado and Ochai Agbaji to Keon Ellis and Andre Drummond to Ayo Dosunmu and Marvin Bagley III, the Knicks are not being linked to anyone with a realistic chance of cracking the top six or seven of their rotation.
That’s not exactly a problem. This is how things work when you’re at New York’s level. Your midseason acquisitions tend to be modest, at best.
The offseason could be a different story. And in the Knicks’ case, leaving the door open for bigger summer swings doesn’t necessarily undermine the small-scale transactions they’re chasing now. It’s instead the difference between going all-out for an eighth or ninth man now, and showing more restraint that gives them a stronger puncher’s chance later of exploiting a seemingly shifting trade landscape that favors the opportunistic, and the bold.