The New York Knicks, by a wide margin, are the third-best team in the Eastern Conference. With five games between them and the second-place Boston Celtics and four and a half games between them and the fourth-place Milwaukee Bucks, it's pretty clear where the Knicks will stand heading into the postseason.
Of course, once the playoffs start, anything is possible, and New York will have to upset two teams better than them to make the Finals, which is not far-fetched, despite their lackluster record against the best teams in the league so far.
However, if New York fails to make any sort of noise and loses to a team worse than them in the postseason, they will have to re-tool. With their core group of players all under contract for at least the next few seasons, they will have to make a trade.
Depending on how their season ends, New York has a few different options, although *Bleacher Report's*Greg Swartz mocked up a trade that would add some much-needed depth and youth to the core.
The deal sees the Knicks add rookie Dalton Knecht, Rui Hachimura, and Dorian Finney-Smith in exchange for OG Anunoby.
"The Knicks gave Anunoby $212 million last offseason before trading for Mikal Bridges. Moving Anunoby now frees up a lot of future money while making the top-heavy Knicks deeper overall," Swartz explained. "A New York team featuring Jalen Brunson, Knecht, Bridges, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns with Hachimura, Finney-Smith, Mitchell Robinson, and Miles McBride is better balanced overall and gives the team more shooting from the wing."
Knecht, in theory, will eventually turn into one of the best shooters in the NBA, and he seems to be very disgruntled after a trade that would have sent him to the Charlotte Hornets failed to happen. It's hard to imagine him being long for Los Angeles.
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On top of Knecht, the Knicks would add two high-level defensive-minded role-players, and the Lakers would add a singular star to help round out a trio with Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
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This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM.