The New York Knicks have had an up-and-down season thus far in 2022-23. After seemingly turning a corner in December with eight straight wins, they have countered with four straight losses to drop back to within a game of .500. The roller coaster continues.
Yet, even those four losses all came by single-digits to teams that made the playoffs last season, and a soft upcoming slate should help right the ship. The turnaround was fueled by the promotion of Quentin Grimes into the starting lineup and Miles McBride into the rotation, which dropped a couple of well-paid veterans onto the bench.
If the Knicks are at their best without these veterans, it behooves them to consider trading them to recoup value, be that draft ammunition for their next run at a star or a better-fitting veteran to plug into the mix. Let’s look at three such expendable veterans and why each should be a candidate to be traded.
3. Derrick Rose
Perhaps the most successful Tom Thibodeau transplant from his days coaching the Chicago Bulls was Derrick Rose, who has reinvented himself as a crafty scoring guard. Over his first calendar year with the Knicks, he averaged 13.6 points per game and hit over 40% of his 3-pointers.
That’s changed this year, as Rose’s minutes returning from injury have been halved and he’s now averaging just six points per game. His 3-point shot has dropped to 34.5%, and his defense is even worse than before. In short, the Knicks were right to demote him.
Even so, Rose has a long track record of being able to hit tough shots and has played very well the past few seasons. Another team trying to win may have use for a bench scorer and would give up a second-round pick and/or absorb his contract. If so, the Knicks should probably bite.
four straight losses</a> to drop back to within a game of .500. The roller coaster continues.</p>
<p>Yet, even those four losses all came by single-digits to teams that made the playoffs last season, and a soft upcoming slate should help right the ship. The turnaround was fueled by the promotion of Quentin Grimes into the starting lineup and Miles McBride into the rotation, which dropped a couple of well-paid veterans onto the bench.</p>
<p>If the Knicks are at their best without these veterans, it behooves them to consider trading them to recoup value, be that draft ammunition for their next run at a star or a better-fitting veteran to plug into the mix. Let’s look at three such expendable veterans and why each should be a candidate to be traded.</p>
<h3>3. Derrick Rose</h3>
<p>Perhaps the most successful Tom Thibodeau transplant from his days coaching the Chicago Bulls was <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://www.nba.com/player/201565/derrick-rose" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Derrick Rose</a>, who has reinvented himself as a crafty scoring guard. Over his first calendar year with the Knicks, he averaged 13.6 points per game and hit over 40% of his 3-pointers.</p>
<p>That’s changed this year, as Rose’s minutes returning from injury have been halved and he’s now averaging just six points per game. His 3-point shot has dropped to 34.5%, and his defense is even worse than before. In short, the Knicks were right to demote him.</p>
<p>Even so, Rose has a long track record of being able to hit tough shots and has played very well the past few seasons. Another team trying to win may have use for a bench scorer and would give up a second-round pick and/or absorb his contract. If so, the Knicks should probably bite.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Overpriced wing </a>
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<img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-136560" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2032,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2022%2F11%2F1440840035.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2032" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/11/1440840035.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/11/1440840035-768x488.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Evan Fournier, New York Knicks. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</p>
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<h3>2. Evan Fournier</h3>
<p>In the summer of 2021 the New York Knicks looked like winners. They had attracted or retained good veteran players who met needs on the team without handing any a true albatross of a contract. It’s probably not their fault that <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/6588/evan-fournier" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evan Fournier</a>, signed to the most money of them all, immediately fell off of a cliff.</p>
<p>That’s not to say he hasn’t played well for the Knicks. He set a franchise record last year for most 3-pointers in a single season with 241, shooting 38.9% from deep. It’s just that his defense evaporated, his passing has atrophied, and he shot a career-worst 41.7% overall from the field because he couldn’t make a shot inside the arc. Fast forward to this season, and Fournier is shooting just 34.4% from the field in the 13 games he’s played.</p>
<p>Fournier just turned 30 years old, and his strong play for France at EuroBasket suggests he still has something left in the tank if a team can just harness it. His shooting is still a weapon and he’s not hesitant to get a shot up, which gives him a fair amount of gravity still. In the right ecosystem he could fill a solid bench role.</p>
<p>The problem is the four-year, $73 million contract he signed in the summer of 2021. He’s due to make $18.86 million next season. The team option for 2024-25 helps balance out that hit, but a team still has to be willing to take on the money for next year. The Knicks shouldn’t drop a major asset to get off of his money, but if another team values Fournier enough for New York to “break even” in the deal, they should probably say yes.</p>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-136878" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2022%2F12%2F1441515195.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/12/1441515195.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/12/1441515195-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Isaiah Hartenstein, New York Knicks. Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images</p>
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<h3>1. Isaiah Hartenstein</h3>
<p>Unlike the first two names on this list, <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/harteis01.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Isaiah Hartenstein</a> is very much still in the rotation. He has appeared in all 35 of the New York Knicks’ games, starting seven of them while filling in for Mitchell Robinson. He’s averaging 19.9 minutes per game, and his per-36 averages come out to 10.3 points and 12 rebounds per game.</p>
<p>Why is Hartenstein on this list, then, especially just months after he signed a two-year deal with the Knicks? The answer is that Robinson, signed to a larger deal, is having a great season and likely to hold onto the starting spot for a long time. Add in young big Jericho Sims, a player the team is enamored with, and the Knicks already have close to 48 minutes of center play they want. Give Julius Randle or Obi Toppin a few minutes at center, and suddenly Hartenstein is superfluous.</p>
<p>The benefit of trading Hartenstein is that he has real value to other teams. He’s on an excellent two-year, $16 million contract and has been a picture of health over the past few seasons. At just 24 years old, teams in a wide variety of situations could trade for him. One idea was floated by our <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/12/30/3-expendable-veterans-the-new-york-knicks-can-trade-away-rose-fournier-hartenstein/"https://clipperholics.com/2022/12/19/grading-3-potential-trades-la-clippers-upgrade-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sister site covering the LA Clippers</a> when looking at potential center upgrades.</p>
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<p>The Knicks look to have a solid nucleus put together, and much of it is propped up by young players. That makes these three veteran players expendable. New York should call around looking for potential trades to turn bench-fodder into something useful — something that will help this team win in 2023 and beyond.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">