Surefire to Long Shot: Ranking chance of 7 NBA stars landing with Knicks

rotation wing in Josh Hart</a>. Hardly a blockbuster.</p> <p>The Knicks were reportedly in talks with the Chicago Bulls <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/09/knicks-narrowly-avoided-classic-disaster-trade-deadline-lavine/">for swingman Zach LaVine</a>, but the two sides didn&#8217;t come to a deal. The Knicks kept the powder dry on a trade for a star, just as they did with Kyrie Irving earlier in the week, or with Donovan Mitchell over the summer. The Knicks continue to bide their time.</p> <h2>The New York Knicks are waiting to make a superstar trade</h2> <p>Eventually, however, the Knicks are going to push the chips in. A star will come available that the Knicks think is worth making the winning bid for. Even after sending this year&#8217;s protected first-rounder to the Trail Blazers, the Knicks have four extra first-round picks and all of their own beyond this season.</p> <p>Which NBA stars will be the next ones available on the trade market, and who will the Knicks go after? Predicting the demise of the Utah Jazz or the combustion of the Brooklyn Nets was possible for those paying attention; some other stars come available out of the blue. Which big-time NBA stars are the Knicks waiting on, and what are the chances they will suit up for the team one day?</p> <p>Let&#8217;s rank the options from Long Shot to Surefire, beginning with a two-time MVP.</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/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span>&nbsp;It&#039;s a longshot </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_139463" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139463" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2512,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1464654322.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2512" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1464654322.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1464654322-768x603.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) – New York Knicks</p> </div> <h2>No. 7: The Knicks’ chances with Giannis Antetokounmpo</h2> <p>Giannis Antetokounmpo is once again an MVP candidate, the best player on the second-best team in the Eastern Conference shouldering an immense load on both offense and defense. He has shown absolutely no indication of wanting to leave Milwaukee, and the Bucks are a title contender. It’s a true longshot that the Knicks could land him.</p> <p>So, why put him on the list at all? There is a sliver of disaster potential for the Bucks. Khris Middleton is an unrestricted free agent this summer and could leave for another team. Jrue Holiday is 32, while Brook Lopez will turn 35 before the end of the regular season. If Middleton leaves and the rest of the Bucks’ core drops off, the team could get to a point where they face the music and tear down. So, there’s a whisper of a chance. A faint whisper.</p> <h2>No. 6: The Knicks’ chances with Anthony Davis</h2> <p>The Los Angeles Lakers have two of the NBA’s top 10 players on their roster right now, and they were active at the NBA Trade Deadline trying to retool around Anthony Davis and LeBron James to try and compete for this year and next.</p> <p>After that, however, James will be 40 and able to hit free agency. Does he want to stay in Los Angeles, or will he go elsewhere? If he leaves, or finally shows the mark of Father Time, do the Lakers decide to tear down? If so, the Knicks could <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2022/11/08/knicks-trading-lakers-anthony-davis-disastrous-front-office-move/">make a move</a> for Davis. He ranks this far down the list, however, because it’s highly unlikely Davis hits the trade block sooner than the summer of 2024, and the Knicks will probably have made their move before then.</p> <h2>No. 5: The Knicks’ chances with Paul George</h2> <p>The LA Clippers are something of an enigma. They have two elite two-way wings, which should be the bedrock of winning a title in the NBA. Injuries have certainly hampered the team, but even more so this team has lacked what quality championship teams have, where everyone fits into their role and performs even better than the sum of their parts. Leonard and George haven’t provided the leadership to help bring that team to the point of being a real threat to win it all.</p> <p>Another year of disappointment could lead to wholesale changes for the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard has a higher upside and is harder to trade because of his injury history, so if the Clippers make a big move it would likely be Paul George leaving. The Knicks would be an excellent landing spot for George if the Clippers go in that direction.</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/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> So you're saying there's a chance... </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_139462" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139462" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2283,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1187537613.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2283" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1187537613.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1187537613-768x548.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Pascal Siakam, Damian Lillard. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) – New York Knicks</p> </div> <h2>No. 4: The Knicks’ chances with Pascal Siakam</h2> <p>We move now from the longshots to the players with a more predictable path to being available. Pascal Siakam is having another All-NBA level season, but the Toronto Raptors will need to scrap just to make the play-in tournament this season. While Toronto stood pat at the trade deadline, it’s very likely they make wholesale changes this summer.</p> <p>Siakam is the least likely of their veteran core to be moved, but he’s still the most likely player on this entire list to be traded. The reason he ranks further down the list is twofold: one, he’s a poor fit on the Knicks next to Julius Randle; and two, the Knicks probably want to set their sights higher, as they have been for the past year.</p> <h2>No. 3: The Knicks’ chances with Damian Lillard</h2> <p>Damian Lillard has played his entire career for the Portland Trail Blazers; he’s already one of the two best players in franchise history, and at no point has he said anything but that he loves being in Portland. With all of that being said, every transaction cycle there are rumors about Lillard leaving, fueled in part by private conversations and in part by the public reality of an all-timer playing on yet another mediocre team.</p> <p>The Trail Blazers are under .500 and clinging to 10th place in the Western Conference; this summer they will need to pay through the nose to keep Jerami Grant, hampering future upgrades, and they just made two “seller” moves at the trade deadline. Can Lillard <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-its-time-for-the-blazers-to-consider-damian-lillard-trades-whether-he-wants-them-to-or-not/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue to commit</a> to a team that isn’t going to be competing for a title anytime soon?</p> <p>If Lillard does ask out, the Knicks are a natural landing spot for him. The Knicks would love to fill up Madison Square Garden with fans hungry for 40-foot rainbows and 50-point explosions.</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/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Start making the jerseys </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_139465" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139465" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2091,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1440840905.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2091" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1440840905.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1440840905-768x502.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) – New York Knicks</p> </div> <h2>No. 2: The Knicks’ chances with Trae Young</h2> <p>The final two players on the list have a <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/trae-young-karl-anthony-towns-bradley-beal-among-the-superstars-most-likely-to-be-traded-next/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">very real path</a> to being on the trade market this summer. Trae Young checks in at second on the list because there appear to be very real issues between him and the Atlanta Hawks organization, including head coach Nate McMillan. Does firing McMillan this summer placate Young? And are the Hawks already hedging by adding Dejounte Murray?</p> <p>The Hawks are .500 this season with a complicated cap future. Young and Murray are not a great fit together, and if Young asks out this summer, it could make sense for the Hawks to find a landing place and then use those assets to retool around Murray. If so, the Knicks would be a perfect fit and would surely back up the truck of draft picks and young players to bring him on board.</p> <p>So, why is Young not number one? The reality is that Young is a young perimeter star and the Hawks may bend over backward to keep him happy and avoid trading him, moving Murray instead or making other major changes this summer.</p> <h2>No. 1: The Knicks’ chances with Karl-Anthony Towns</h2> <p>The Minnesota Timberwolves traded everything not nailed down last summer to add Rudy Gobert. When he and Karl-Anthony Towns played together the Timberwolves were not good; with Towns injured the Wolves are much better. The Wolves’ future is putting the ball in the hands of Anthony Edwards. That’s a lot of facts that, when stacked together, build an arrow pointing Karl-Anthony Towns out of town.</p> <p>Will Minnesota want to keep paying Towns a max contract just to be a glorified spot-up shooter? Can they afford to shift enough of the offense toward him given the fit challenges with Gobert? It looked like a mistake last summer and has only been proven out this year.</p> <p>Yet that doesn’t mean Towns isn’t a true star, one of the best shooting centers in NBA history, with the skill to score from all angles. He also won’t have as robust of a market as players like Young and Lillard, which makes the Knicks that much more likely to land him.</p> <p>No single one of these stars is likely to land on the New York Knicks, but all combined it’s likely that the Knicks land <em>someone</em>. Their willingness to be patient and wait out the right player shows foresight, and if they can continue to build the right supporting cast, adding a star could be the cherry on top that pushes the Knicks into championship contention.</p> <div class="embed "> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="LfbytoXhHv"><p><a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/">Reminiscing on the top 3 worst trades in Knicks history</a></p></blockquote> <p><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/12/surefire-long-shot-ranking-chance-7-nba-stars-landing-knicks-young-lillard-towns/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/10/reminiscing-on-the-top-3-worst-trades-in-knicks-history/embed/#?secret=LfbytoXhHv" data-secret="LfbytoXhHv" width="500" height="282" title="“Reminiscing on the top 3 worst trades in Knicks history” — Daily Knicks" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p></div><!—pageview_candidate—>">