Report: Knicks trade for Emmanuel Mudiay in three-team deal

After completely falling out of the rotation in Denver, Emmanuel Mudiay will be given a chance to resurrect his career with the Knicks after a deadline day trade.

Emmanuel Mudiay officially has no future with the Nuggets. Denver decided to trade him on deadline day to the Knicks in a three-team deal that also involved the Mavericks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Mavericks got Doug McDermott from the Knicks and the Nuggets got Devin Harris from the Mavericks.

Wojnarowski added that the trade also involved a swapping of second-round picks between the Nuggets and the Knicks. Denver gets New York’s 2018 second-round pick via the Clippers and the Knicks get Denver’s second-round pick via the Trail Blazers.

The trade helps the two main players involved more than it helps the teams. Neither team has a shot of making the playoffs. The Mavericks knew that before the season started and the Knicks were starting to fade from the playoff race and then young star Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL and was ruled out for the season, crushing their playoff hopes.

Each team now has the opportunity to give some playing time to players who would struggle for minutes elsewhere. Mudiay had only played 20-plus minutes in one of the Nuggets last 12 games. The Knicks now get a shot at using Mudiay as their backup point guard instead of the rapidly declining Jarret Jack, and see if he even comes close to reaching the potential labeled on him as a draft prospect.

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McDermott has now been traded three times in the past year and has struggled to gain consistent minutes with any of the three teams he’s previously played with. The Mavericks will almost certainly find minutes for the former Creighton man as they have very little depth after starters Wesley Matthews Jr. and Harrison Barnes.

Hopefully both players find what they’re looking for with their new ball clubs.