As the New York Knicks tried to improve their roster, one insider broke the possibility of landing Kevin Durant or Jalen Jackson Jr.
The Knicks are currently a team in fluidity. Their offseason has been chaotic since the moment the Knicks were removed from the playoffs.
Since then, the franchise has shockedly fired Tom Thibodeau and has been looking for a new head coach ever since.
Knicks’ I Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown are also considering messing around with their roster as potential candidates to replace Thibodeau.
Now they’re in Kevin Durant’s race. The Knicks are not my favorite, but they are an option worth considering.
And recently, the Knicks have also seen Jalen Jackson Jr. as a trade target. But what is the chance that they could land either star?
New York Knicks expert Ian Begley spoke about the possibility of landing Kevin Durant or Jalen Jackson Jr. in trade.
As for Jackson, Begley doesn’t think the Knicks will pull away the blockbuster trade for him on another planet. As for Durant, his age is the biggest barrier to any potential trading.
“It’s an earthquake movement and will let people know that they don’t believe in the core you put together 12 months ago.
“If that big trade caliber is Jalen Jackson’s JR and isn’t a player with such a big name, I’d be a bit surprised.
“I don’t think there was a real, strong, legitimate interest in Durant’s deal and signing him to that extension at age 37.
“It was a consistent thing that came out of my conversation. I don’t think anything will change here. As I get closer to the draft, I can cross him off the list.”
The issue with the New York Knicks is the lack of flexibility and trade assets when it comes to improving the roster.
First of all, the Knicks are hard capped on the first apron of their salary cap. This means that wage bills cannot totally exceed $178.7 million.
A way around this is to offload some stars via trading. The problem, however, is that the Knicks have no draft or tradable assets.
Most of their picks were used in their final offseason to land the towns of Mikal Bridges and Karl Anthony, but they still have first round picks in 2028 and 2030.
However, Stepien rules stipulate that teams cannot trade draft topics in succession. After sending 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031 picks online, the best the Knicks can offer in any deal is the Pix Swap.
How can the Knicks operate from this difficult position? President Leon Rose and the front office need to figure out the solution if the Knicks want to improve their roster.
