New York Knicks trade rumors indicate the franchise is willing to part with its first-round NBA draft pick. Knicks fans hoping the 2015 NBA Draft would put the team back on a successful path might be very frustrated about this piece of news. As relayed by CBS Sports on Wednesday (May 20), Knicks general manager Steve Mills broached the topic in an interview he gave. His comments followed the team dropping to the fourth overall selection in the NBA lottery.
“I think we’re going to be open to a lot of things. We know we can get a good player at this pick. We’re also going to be open to talking to teams and looking at different options.”
Fans of the New York Knicks have had to deal with a lot of disappointments recently, but not nabbing one of the top two picks in the 2015 NBA Draft was pretty hard to take. The Knicks finished with the second worst record in the league, giving fans a lot of hope that they could nab one of the two elite centers coming out of college. Now it looks like the Minnesota Timberwolves are just too good at tanking as a franchise, because the team lost its last 12 games of the regular season and was rewarded with the first overall selection.
Knicks team president Phil Jackson wants to put a winner on the court again at Madison Square Garden, but he has a lot of work to do in the offseason. The cupboard is pretty bare in New York, with Carmelo Anthony, Jason Calderon, and Tim Hardaway Jr. basically the only remaining veterans. It does give Jackson the ability to offer a max deal to an incoming free agent, but which one would fit perfectly with Anthony as the centerpiece of this franchise?
As previously reported on the Inquisitr , the team bought out the contract of Amar’e Stoudemire, traded J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, and brought on expiring contracts with the hopes of “clearing the decks” for the upcoming NBA offseason. Now the difficult job of convincing free agents to come play for the New York Knicks has been placed in the laps of Steve Mills and Phil Jackson. Will the allure of the big city be enough to draw some big names? Or are Knicks fans doomed to root for a team in the rebuilding phase for several more NBA seasons?
Despite Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor likely going to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers with the first two picks, the 2015 NBA Draft could hold a lot of talent for other teams. Two possible targets for the New York Knicks with that fourth pick could be Ohio State guard D’Angelo Russell and point guard Emmanuel Mudiay of China. Both players could work with Carmelo Anthony on the court, but with so many Knicks trade rumors floating already, the pick may soon change hands anyway.
[Image Source: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]
