Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, New York Knicks. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Trade #2: Eddy Curry for two future All-NBA players
When I think of the Isiah Thomas era for the Knicks, it’s usually not good, and this trade is a big reason. This move, partnered with the awful contract Thomas handed to Jerome James, made fans’ lives miserable for a while.
This trade saw Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas, and Jermaine Jackson, alongside two first-round picks leave New York for Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis. While the players the Knicks sent out weren’t anything too crazy, it was the draft picks the team traded that ended up costing them in the long run.
The picks the Knicks sent out were their own 2006 first-round pick and the rights to swap their first-rounder in 2007. These picks ended up becoming Lamarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA member, and Joakim Noah, a defensive player of the year, and two-time All-Star.
Alongside this, the Knicks also obtained Curry’s ridiculous six-year, $60 million contract. Curry wasn’t the worst player during his time in New York, but that doesn’t justify this trade and what the Knicks gave up.
During his five seasons with the Knicks, Curry averaged 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per game. So again, not the worst, but when you trade two first-round picks for a player and pay them that much money, they need to be better.
This trade will always define just how bad of a GM Thomas was for the Knicks. He was a heck of a player, but please never let him in a front office ever again.
traded Patrick Ewing</a> on the last year of his contract in return for Glen Rice, Luc Longley, and Travis Knight – three players who did absolutely nothing but eat up cap space during their time in New York.</p>
<p>While the Knicks would also receive a couple of first-round picks, they did just about nothing with these picks, making the deal look even worse. Hindsight is 20/20, but this deal just doesn’t make any sense even outside of the disrespect for Ewing.</p>
<p>As for Ewing himself, even he said he was shocked by the deal, stating:</p>
<blockquote class="left ampstart-left">I was shocked… I’ve been stunned for two days walking around… I never thought I’d end my career anywhere else.</p>
<p></blockquote>
<p>Honestly, the blatant disrespect for Ewing by the Knicks’ front office at the time is annoying to look back upon. If the front office wanted to get rid of Ewing so badly they could have just waited until the end of the season for his contract to expire. However, they instead opted to trade for bloated contracts that led the team nowhere,</p>
<p>Basketball is a business, I understand that, but looking at all the other franchises that kept their cornerstone players around for their entire careers, even when they weren’t that great, makes the Knicks look dumb.</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/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> The pinnacle of Isiah Thomas's career as the Knicks GM </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139304" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1081,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F72670290.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1081" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/72670290.jpeg 1600w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/72670290-768x519.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, New York Knicks. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>Trade #2: Eddy Curry for two future All-NBA players</h3>
<p>When I think of the Isiah Thomas era for the Knicks, it’s usually not good, and this trade is a big reason. This move, partnered with the awful contract Thomas handed to Jerome James, made fans’ lives miserable for a while.</p>
<p>This trade saw Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas, and Jermaine Jackson, alongside two first-round picks leave New York <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/sports/basketball/bulls-curry-is-traded-to-knicks.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for Eddy Curry</a> and Antonio Davis. While the players the Knicks sent out weren’t anything too crazy, it was the draft picks the team traded that ended up costing them in the long run.</p>
<p>The picks the Knicks sent out were their own 2006 first-round pick and the rights to swap their first-rounder in 2007. These picks ended up becoming Lamarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA member, and Joakim Noah, a defensive player of the year, and two-time All-Star.</p>
<p>Alongside this, the Knicks also obtained Curry’s ridiculous six-year, $60 million contract. Curry wasn’t the worst player during his time in New York, but that doesn’t justify this trade and what the Knicks gave up.</p>
<p>During his five seasons with the Knicks, Curry averaged 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per game. So again, not the worst, but when you trade two first-round picks for a player and pay them that much money, they need to be better.</p>
<p>This trade will always define just how bad of a GM Thomas was for the Knicks. He was a heck of a player, but please never let him<a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2019/09/09/new-york-knicks-executives-history/"> in a front office</a> ever again.</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/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> A trade that didn't make sense at the time and still doesn't to this day </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139306" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1177,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F461638619.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1177" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/461638619.jpeg 1600w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/461638619-768x565.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Andrea Bargnani, New York Knicks. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>Trade #1: Obtaining Andrea Bargnani for some reason</h3>
<p>This trade is funnier than anything to look back at, especially because of Andrea Bargnani’s embarrassing missed dunk attempt during his time in New York. However, this doesn’t change the fact that this is very possibly the worst trade in the history of the Knicks.</p>
<p>In this trade, the Knicks sent out Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a first-round pick in 2016, and two second-round picks (one being in 2014 and the other in 2017).</p>
<p>While the pick would end up becoming Jakob Poeltl, who is a very solid player in his own right. However, Domantas Sabonis was available two picks later and would have been quite the game-changer.</p>
<p>What makes<a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2019/08/23/new-york-knicks-reviewing-andrea-bargnani-debacle/"> this trade</a> a lot worse than the Curry trade, however, is that the Knicks were just coming off a season in which they won 54 games and were looking to make a push as a legitimate contender in the East.</p>
<p>Instead, they made this awful trade and won just 37 games in the following season and have never been the same since. There are so many other trades the front office could’ve made to improve the Knicks and this is the one they went with. A true example of absolute incompetence.</p>
<p>The best part about this trade is that it’s not even like Bargnani was a good player when the Knicks traded for him, and he got even worse in New York. In just two seasons with the Knicks, Bargnani averaged 13.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 44.7% from the field and 30.2% from three on 2.1 attempts per game.</p>
<p>This trade is just an absolute disaster and brought the downfall of the early 2010s Knicks, some of the most entertaining basketball fans had seen since the 90s.</p>
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