More attention is being placed on who the New York Knicks will trade for, not which players the team will include in the deal. The OG Anunoby trade was another step forward by the Knicks, but he isn't the star the organization has long been after.
As fans learned with the Anunoby deal, you can't acquire talent without sending some out in return. When New York trades for a star, the front office will have to include first-round picks and a couple of players to help make salaries match.
With RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley gone, which current players might the Knicks include in a trade for a big-name player?
3 Knicks who are most likely to be included in trade package for star
3. Julius Randle
This isn't a pro-trade Julius Randle rant. He's quite possibly playing the best basketball of his career and could be well on his way to his third All-NBA honor. Yes, his playoff resume isn't the best, but to be fair, he did play with an injured ankle in 2023. Maybe he'll be able to redeem himself in 2024.
Randle switched representation from CAA to WME Sports over the summer, causing fans to speculate that a trade could already be in the works. That turned out to be untrue, but it doesn't mean a trade won't happen in the future.
Shams Charania said earlier this week that New York is still interested in Karl-Anthony Towns after acquiring Anunoby. Action Network's Matt Moore reported that the Knicks don't want to part with Mitchell Robinson in a trade for KAT and that the Timberwolves aren't interested in Randle.
If New York were to work out a deal like the one mentioned above, a third team interested in Randle would likely be looped in.
No one knows which star the Knicks will trade for, but it's a move expected to happen sometime in 2024. In that case, Randle's salary could be included in the deal, meaning the end of the forward's time in NYC.