NBA Trade Deadline 2020: 5 trades to help the Knicks clear the decks
By Ian Levy
What looked to be a roster of low-risk, high-value young veterans to scaffold their young talent turned out to be a bloated developmental mess. How can the Knicks get value for that?
A coaching change has helped the Knicks turn their season around to some degree, but the writing is still on the wall. Veterans on short-term deals like Marcus Morris and Bobby Portis have more value as potential trade bait in adding future assets than helping win a few extra games and still miss the playoffs by a wide margin.
There aren’t any deals out there that dramatically reshape the team’s fortunes but here are a few deals that can help the Knicks keeping moving forward.
5. Save the Blazers, save the world
The Blazers are in a rough position, fighting just to get into the Western Conference playoffs but with a roster and cap sheet that pretty much locks them into trying to compete. They could use some shooting and depth on the wing, which Kent Bazemore hasn’t been able to give them. There aren’t any easy answers here but they get size and shooting in Portis and take a gamble that Ellington or Dotson can be more impactful as shooters in the minutes Bazemore was playing.
Bazemore is on an expiring deal that clears cap room for the Knicks this summer. Nassir Little hasn’t shown a ton in his limited rookie minutes but he has intriguing physical tools and gives the Knicks three more years of cost-effective control while they see if he can grow into a useful piece.