The NBA Draft Lottery will determine if the New York Knicks get the No. 1 pick or not, but they may already be thinking about trading it.
The New York Knicks are looking at one of their worst seasons in franchise history this year, and it has put them in a position to possibly lock up the No. 1 overall pick this year in the draft. Of course, the NBA Draft Lottery will determine all of that, but even with their being slight uncertainty about who will win the Lottery, the Knicks are already thinking about trading the pick.
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According to Brian Windhorst from ESPN.com, the Knicks aren’t actively shopping the No. 1 pick — mainly because they can’t trade it — but they’re kicking around the idea of what they could get in return for it if a deal is worked out.
First and foremost, the Knicks cannot trade their 2015 first-round pick thanks to an NBA rule that prevents a team from trading first-rounders in consecutive years. But of the Knicks were to arrange to pick a player for a team and then do a draft day trade, that’s fair game.
That’s what the Knicks are apparently trying to figure out if they can make happen, as ESPN New York’s Ian Beagly notes the team could grab a decent haul if done right. Beagly points out that the motivation to trade the pick for an established star stems from the fact that Carmelo Anthony isn’y getting any younger and a winner needs to be build sooner rather than later.
If the Knicks were to acquire a top veteran player for their first-round pick plus sign a top tier free agent like Kevin Love or Greg Monroe, then the team would have assembled a Big 3 in the span of an offseason.
That’s what the Knicks need, and if the land a top pick then trading it may be in their best interest. New York may not have time to wait for a Karl-Anthony Townes to develop or for a D’Angelo Russell to develop while Carmelo’s best years waste away.
It’s a bold move that seems like such a ‘Knicks’ move, but it might be the right move — for once.
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