Given the Knicks’ struggles to attract a star, Jalen Brunson is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
At the time of writing, the New York Knicks are 31–17. It is their best start to a season in decades. It has been a tough stretch for fans these past few decades, but it seems the Knickerbockers are finally starting to turn a corner. They now boast the league’s eighth best offense and fifth best defense. Powered by point guard Jalen Brunson and forward Julius Randle, the team can devastate opponents on both ends of the court, pairing their superstars’ offensive arsenal and head coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive schemes. In the month of January, they lost only twice.
The team is in a good spot, but that is not the message portrayed by the national media. After recent acquisition O.G. Anunoby’s debut for the team, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith stated, “I’m not moved…Go out and get Donovan Mitchell. You got eight first-round picks available to you, use a couple dammit.”
The demand is not just that the team needs to improve — they already did this with the O.G. trade — but for this to be a block-
buster trade for one of the game’s biggest players. Players like Zack Lavine, Donovan Mitchell or even reigning MVP Joel Embiid have been floated as potential targets.
This push for talent, while understandable, is a doomed endeavor. Knicks history is filled with stories of short term moves dooming any kind of success. In 2019, the team traded 23-year-old all-star Kristaps Porzingis to clear cap room. That season, they finished a league-worst 17–65. Julius Randle, another pivotal player for the Knicks, suffered from an ankle injury this season. Still, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. That summer, the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler were free agents. Durant and Irving in particular were believed to be heavy favorites to land in New York. Neither signed to the Knicks.
In 2010, the team traded for star forward Carmelo Anthony. At the time, Anthony was a young scoring guard pushing for a trade to his hometown team. He got his wish at the 2011 trade deadline. The problem was
it cost the Knicks several depth pieces and draft picks that left Anthony steering a barren roster. In his seven seasons in New York, he only made the second round once.
With all these past failures, why can’t the team attract a star player? Some argue it could be famously unpopular owner James Dolan. Others would blame New York’s high taxes and negative press coverage. Both are potential causes but neither tell the entire story. The problem is that the Knicks pitches itself as needing to be saved. They clear out cap room by sacrificing assets, leaving potential signees with a more difficult situation than they would be leaving. Any trade for the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid or Donovan Mitchell would cost the team a king’s ransom in assets and draft capital. After which the team becomes an unappealing destination. Instead, the team should replicate their crosstown rival: the Brooklyn Nets. Although rarely discussed, the 2019 Nets built a young, passionate culture helmed by young players like D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Jarrett Allen. The team was composed of players cast off by other teams creating a culture of hunger and fight that helped the team surpass expectations. Despite only reaching a six seed and a first round playoff exit, the impressive showing convinced Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to pass on the Knicks in favor of the city’s less popular team. Now everything after that — firing two coaches in three years, trading role players for unhappy veterans, constant off-court drama — was less in the spirit of that team but it provides a playbook for how to attract superstar talent. Bottom line, the Knicks are good but if they are going to pursue a superstar they need to earn it.