3 ways the Knicks can trade up in 2022 NBA Draft for Jaden Ivey

1. Knicks trade with the Kings to move up to No. 4 to land Jaden Ivey

The Kings have already been rumored to be listening to offers for the No. 4 pick, seeking a win-now player to help them end their playoff drought. Julius Randle might not be their first choice, both because of the price tag and because his offense-heavy skill set may be a bit redundant with primarily offensive players like Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. But the Kings also sound like they really want to make the playoffs and their trade options may be limited by the market and the number of teams who would prefer a backcourt player like Ivey to the three big-man prospects at the top of the class.

Depending on what the Knicks want, the Kings could renounce their rights to players like Jeremy Lamb and Donte DiVincenzo to clear cap space, or they could do that in combination with sending Harrison Barnes to New York and taking back another useful rotation player like Alec Burks.

To be clear, none of these deals are slam dunks for anyone. They rely on the Knicks being convinced Jaden Ivey being a game-changing star and the teams ahead of them strongly believing otherwise. From there, you still need some team goals and player evaluations moving in very different directions for the pieces to fit together. But there’s certainly enough there to give Knicks’ fans some hope.