Throughout their 80-year existence, the New York Knicks have always been a franchise with their sights set on the stars.
From their acquisition of Earl Monroe back in 1971 to their polarizing blockbuster that landed Carmelo Anthony midway through the 2010-11 season, the organization has historically been hot for the glitz and glamour talents in the association.
However, here in 2025-26, amid all the buzz surrounding star players wanting out of their current situations, the Knicks are shying away from throwing their hat into the ring.
Instead, by all accounts from league insiders and in-the-know pundits, it appears New York is more so prioritizing the lesser buzzed-about role players that are believed to be on the market.
Knicks seemingly shying away from star chasing in favor of depth building
If Knicks fans were to have been told just four short years ago that several established All-NBA players, many of whom are guards, would be shopped around on the trade market and the franchise would have no interest in pursuing any of them, they would have believed such a concept to be completely far-fetched.
Yet here we are.
In the midst of all the noise and attention surrounding Trae Young (now officially a member of the Wizards) and Ja Morant (recently reported to be on the block), the Knicks seemingly have their eyes on niche role players such as Jose Alvarado, the sparkplug reserve guard for the New Orleans Pelicans who provides steady long-range shooting (36.1 percent clip) and suffocating defense.
Other potential options, according to the likes of James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, include Keon Ellis of the Sacramento Kings and Ochai Agbaji of the Toronto Raptors.
Considering the fact that they already have their superstar centerpiece in captain Jalen Brunson, and guys like All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns, fringe All-Stars OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, and elite board gobbling and shot swatting big Mitchell Robinson running alongside him, it's hard to argue that the Knicks should be going all-in for adding star power this trade season.
Clearly, they've already got plenty of it.
If anything, what they could use more of are glue guys who can plug in a myriad of roles within the rotation to help address some of their innate weaknesses -- the absence of Josh Hart over these past couple of weeks has revealed this in a rather painful way.
With an NBA Championship run as realistic as it's ever been here in the 21 Century, the Knicks are turning a cold shoulder to their past trade urges and, instead, are looking to make the smaller move for a strategically larger impact.
So far, this approach has been working wonders.