New York Knicks Rumors: Knicks Want Trey Lyles As First-Round Draft Pick


New York Knicks rumors indicate the team is very interested in Trey Lyles. The Knicks could make Lyles a first-round selection in the 2015 NBA Draft. A report from Frank Isola at the New York Daily News notes just how much Knicks president Phil Jackson has become enamored with Lyles. It appears Jackson sees Lyles as a good fit for the triangle offense; something that hasn’t worked very well with Carmelo Anthony so far. In his one season at Kentucky, Lyles averaged 8.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He stands 6-foot-10 and weighs 235 pounds.

In the most recent NBA mock draft from CBS Sports, the experts all had the New York Knicks going with Emmanuel Mudiay with the No. 4 overall selection. Mudiay is a talented point guard from China that could likely be the first international player selected in the upcoming draft. None of the experts had Trey Lyles coming off the board until the No. 15 selection, with the Atlanta Hawks taking a risk on the former Kentucky power forward. Other mock drafts have had him falling even further in the first round. As previously reported on the Inquisitr, Lyles is just one of seven Kentucky players to enter the draft.

If the Knicks really are on a path to taking Lyles in the first round, then it is likely that the team could look to trade down. With no draft analysts calling Lyles a top 10 selection, the wise move would be to try to move down and possibly acquire additional picks in the 2015 NBA Draft. The risk there, though, is that the Los Angeles Lakers could select D’Angelo Russell with the No. 2 pick, leaving either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor on the board. Those two players might be an even better fit on the Knicks.

It won’t surprise anyone that Phil Jackson is approaching the 2015 NBA Draft a bit differently than other front office folks. He certainly knows what it takes to run a successful triangle offense, and if the Knicks plan to continue using it in the 2015-16 NBA season, they need to acquire players that can succeed with it. The team was just about gutted through trades this past season, leaving Carmelo Anthony, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Cleanthony Early, and Jose Calderon as the only players currently under contract. It means Jackson has a lot of work to do this offseason.

There are bound to be numerous rumors as the 2015 NBA Draft draws closer, especially when it comes to a team as popular as the New York Knicks. The ultimate question will soon focus on whether Phil Jackson would really use the No. 4 overall draft pick to select Trey Lyles

[Image Source: Andy Lyons/Getty Images]

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