Grade the trade: Wild three-team blockbuster proposal sends Anthony Davis to Knicks

The New York Knicks took a tough loss this summer when Isaiah Hartenstein signed a three-year deal with the Thunder. A month of rumors passed before the Knicks re-signed Precious Achiuwa to a one-year contract.

If the first half of the season shows that New York needs to strengthen its frontcourt, Achiuwa could be included in a trade before the deadline. As a team over the first tax apron, the Knicks can't receive more than they send out, meaning a trade will be slightly complicated.

Mitchell Robinson is back in the starting five spot. He underwent ankle surgery last December and returned at the end of the regular season. He underwent minor ankle surgery after his playoff run ended early. He's under contract for two more seasons.

There have been questions about Robinson's health and fit. If he gets injured, Achiuwa will likely be the starting center. Julius Randle and OG Anunoby could split time at the five. It wouldn't be ideal for a team that cashed in its assets for this summer to rise up the contending ranks.

Knicks explored trades for a center before re-signing Precious Achiuwa

Heavy's Collin Loring created a three-team mock trade involving the Knicks. He wrote that New York is "down a starting center" and "could help facilitate a trade between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers to land one." Technically speaking, Hartenstein was the starting center, but that job belonged to Robinson before he got hurt.

Let's take a look at the deal Loring proposed and evaluate if it's one that the Knicks should consider.

Laying out the trade

Financially, this deal works. Loring didn't include draft compensation, but he wrote that the trade would require the Knicks and Lakers to send first-round picks.

After Team USA's gold medal finish in the 2024 Paris Olympics, there has been a lot of speculation about LeBron James and Steph Curry teaming up. The two did a joint Instagram post that fueled the fire even more. After years of being rivals, NBA fans want to see LeBron and Steph on the same team, and this trade would do that.

Since this is about the Knicks, we're not going to look too much into how it would affect Los Angeles and Golden State.

Would the Knicks say yes?

It's true that New York has explored adding another center to the roster. The Knicks have an open roster spot they could give to a big man, but it wouldn't be someone who comes close to Anthony Davis. It's hard to envision the front office green-lighting this trade before the season starts.

Davis would be an upgrade over Robinson, even though both have concerning injury histories. However, AD is coming off a season in which he played a career-high 76 games, while Robinson played 31 because of his ankle.

Even though Julius Randle became extension-eligible on Aug. 3 and hasn't signed a deal, New York doesn't want to trade him (subscription required). Fred Katz of The Athletic has reported that several times this offseason. If he doesn't fit with the new-look starting lineup, a trade may happen before the deadline, but that's impossible to predict.

The Knicks don't have many valuable assets left over after the Bridges trade, and the Lakers would likely ask for a lot to give up AD. Would New York have enough for LA? That's a question that doesn't matter much, as there's no way the Lakers will trade Davis. As fun as it'd be to see LeBron and Steph in LA, this is far-fetched.

From New York's point of view, this wouldn't be a bad trade, but it'd subtract two key frontcourt players for an injury-prone star. There's no way to predict how many games Davis will play. It'd be a risky move. Again, none of this matters much, as it'd take a miracle for all three teams to agree to this trade.

Grade: C-