A new report suggests that the struggling New York Knicks have recently placed point guard Trey Burke on the trading block and that several competing teams could benefit from acquiring the former lottery pick’s services.
Writing for the New York Post on Saturday, Marc Berman noted that Burke, who had missed eight out of the Knicks’ last 13 games before their Friday game against the Brooklyn Nets, might have turned heads among league executives after scoring 25 points and dishing out five assists in that game. Per Berman, Burke only got to play significant minutes on Friday due to the shoulder injury recently suffered by starting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who is expected to miss the next two to three weeks.
With Burke, Mudiay, and Frank Ntilikina all sharing minutes at the point guard position, the New York Post ‘s Berman wrote that the New York Knicks will be looking to trade Burke for a second-round pick on or before the February 7 trade deadline. He added that there are three teams that might show the most interest — the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, who respectively lost point guards Lonzo Ball and Spencer Dinwiddie for weeks due to injuries, and the Golden State Warriors, who lack depth at point guard behind Stephen Curry.
Regardless of what happens in the coming weeks, Trey Burke told the New York Post that he won’t object to whatever the Knicks decide. He did, however, express some frustration at not getting to play as much as he would have wanted to, given his youth and the fact he only spent two years playing college basketball at the University of Michigan.
“I have a lot of basketball left in me. I take care of my body. Being 26, honestly, I’m not even in my prime yet. I don’t feel I have a lot of mileage on my body, only played two years of college. That’s one of the frustrating things, too.”
Knicks are shopping PG Trey Burke for a 2nd-round pick; Warriors, Lakers, Nets could have interest, per @NYPost_Berman pic.twitter.com/pKWPxQNujv
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) January 27, 2019
Given that the Knicks have several players in their early 20s or late teens, Burke added that he often forgets that he’s far from being an old player. However, the New York Post pointed out that the Knicks, behind head coach David Fizdale, appear to be focusing on an “extreme youth movement” where the 20-year-old Ntilikina is starting in Mudiay’s place for the meantime.
“We’re human. You want to play and you find yourself outside the lineup, you can do two things. You can mope and pout about it. Or you try to figure out getting better for when you’re opportunity come back around,” Burke continued.
The ninth pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Trey Burke is currently averaging 11.6 points and 2.9 rebounds for the New York Knicks, representing a slight decline from his 2017-18 stats, as noted by Bleacher Report . While Burke is still considered a liability on defense, the publication opined that the Lakers and Nets could particularly use someone like him as a backup point guard, but would only have a few months to gauge his long-term viability due to his impending free agency in the 2019 offseason.
