Since Malcolm Brogdon announced his retirement right before October's regular season tip-off, the New York Knicks have struggled to find any semblance of stability from their backup point guard position.
As a result, the ball club has seen a steep decline in ball movement from their reserve unit compared to their starters, and has been heavily reliant on star Jalen Brunson, who ranks sixth in the league in usage among those who have seen 18 or more games played.
Fortunately, it appears this front office may soon come across an opportunity to add an optimal talent upgrade to help fill this rotational void, as recent reports indicate that Chris Paul and the LA Clippers are heading for a split.
Knicks should consider signing Chris Paul as Jalen Brunson's backup
In the early hours of December 3, news broke that the Clippers had decided to part ways with Paul after just a month and a half of action during his reunion campaign with the organization.
Though the point guard can't be traded until December 15, as he inked a one-year, $3.6 million deal with the team this past summer, the popular belief is that Los Angeles will either waive him or agree to some sort of buyout in the not-too-distant future.
Assuming this comes to fruition, and Paul still intends to play out his farewell campaign, the Knicks should be seriously interested in pursuing his services.
As noted, New York has been heavily reliant on Brunson to carry the load at the lead guard spot. Without him on the floor, this 13-7 squad plummets down to the 53 percentile in point differential and points per 100 possessions, as well as the 34 percentile in effective field goal percentage.
Comparatively, they rank in the 83, 96, and 82 percentiles with him in the game.
Though there are several factors at play when it comes to this stark contrast in production for New York, perhaps the most notable is the fact that, without Brunson, there's no one who understands how to properly run the offense.
Paul is someone who could do just that for them.
While he may be far from his prime All-Star days, the future Hall of Famer has still proven himself capable of quarterbacking an offense during these twilight years of his career.
Just last season, while playing with the Spurs, the veteran dished out the sixth-most assists in the league with 605 in total (7.4 per game) while posting averages of 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals on 37.7 percent shooting from deep along the way.
Now, granted, the 16 games he played in Los Angeles this season were far from pretty, as he posted mere averages of just 2.9 points, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 rebounds per night. However, the once-upon-a-time title-hopeful Clippers have produced like one of the worst teams in the league as a whole this season, and their 5-16 record only strengthens such a claim.
Perhaps his lackluster numbers to this point may actually be a result of a tumultuous situation -- frankly, based on recent rumblings, the internal turmoil seems to have been worse than many were aware of.
Of course, at 40 years old, maybe they're simply just a result of age finally catching up to him.
All things considered, however, should the cash-strapped Knicks be able to add someone of his status to their roster on a near-nothing minimum contract, kicking the tires on the Point God could prove to be well worth the gamble.