The Knicks already know the shape of the problem, and that gives them an edge. They need another center, and they probably need to move before the rest of the league fully wakes up to the market.
December 15 is the unofficial, and kind of official, start of trade season in the NBA. That’s when most free agents who signed over the summer become eligible to be dealt.
But for New York, waiting that long could make the job harder than it needs to be. If the Knicks are going to add a big man, they’d be smart to do it before the competition gets crowded.
Even with James Wiseman, Drew Eubanks, and Tony Bradley on the training camp roster, the Knicks still do not have a settled third center. And to be blunt, they may not even have Karl-Anthony Towns’ main playoff backup yet.
Andre Drummond, signed at the minimum, was a reasonable pickup, but his defensive issues make him a problem in a lot of postseason matchups. New York already saw that up close when he barely played in the second-round sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers.
So yes, a trade feels inevitable. The real question is timing.
The Knicks are in a different spot from most teams around the league. They already know exactly what they need.
More than 80 percent of the rotation is back from a championship roster, and the only notable departures are Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti, both centers. That part is simple enough.
The harder part is finding a deal that works under the second-apron rules.
Those restrictions make the money tight. New York can’t chase the biggest names unless it sends out a core player, which leaves the Knicks mostly working with Pacome Dadiet’s $2.9 million salary and/or Deuce McBride’s expiring $4 million contract. That’s not a perfect setup, but it is workable.
The problem is that other teams can play the waiting game too, and once more suitors enter the picture, the Knicks lose some of their leverage. They don’t have blue-chip prospects to offer.
McBride’s pending free agency may also lower his value. And the Knicks can’t trade a first-round pick before 2033, a move they should not make anyway just to land a bench player.
That’s why an early move makes sense. New York can use second-round picks and bench salary to get ahead of the pack before the market gets busier.
The targets won’t come cheap, even if they’re not stars. Names like Moussa Diabate, Dylan Cardwell, Zach Edey, Kel’el Ware, and Yves Missi are the kind of players who could draw interest.
There’s a reason some teams wait until later in the season. They want more clarity, more information, and more options.
But the Knicks already have clarity. They know their roster.
They know their need. In a market where most buyers wait, moving first might be the smartest advantage they have.
In Other News...
Bruce Brown Is Suddenly In A Knicks Fight Fans Didn't Expect
Bruce Browns path to New York has been shaped as much by the leagues new spending rules as by his own rsum. The 30-year-old forward, long valued as a high-energy bench piece, landed with the Knicks on a training camp deal after drawing limited interest elsewhere, a reminder of how the NBAs second apron has made life harder for veteran free agents hunting for the kind of stable, longer-term opportunity Brown once would have had.
Now Brown is simply trying to stick, which is a different challenge entirely. Training camp invitations always carry an edge of uncertainty, but in this case the Knicks depth chart leaves little room for comfort, and the competition for a roster spot has become the real story as New York sorts out its back end before opening night. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Opener Got Pulled Into A LeBron Embiid Tension Story
The Knicks preseason opener wound up carrying a little extra chatter before the ball was even tipped, thanks to a Mike Breen mention of a story involving LeBron James and Joel Embiid. The buzz centered on an alleged incident in which James supposedly reprimanded Embiid for being late to a 76ers practice, a bit of sideline gossip that quickly spread beyond the game itself even though neither star took part in the matchup against New York.
LeBron publicly pushed back on the tale on Instagram, while Embiid has stayed quiet. Inside the 76ers, the picture has sounded much calmer, with reports indicating the groups practices and workouts have been viewed in positive terms. For the Knicks, it meant a preseason game briefly got pulled into a bigger league conversation, the sort of off-court thread that can linger even when the players at the center of it are not on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Are Running Into A Harsh Pacome Dadiet Reality
Pacome Dadiets first year in New York has not exactly given the Knicks much leverage. The team is said to be exploring ways to move the young wing in order to clear a roster spot and create a little more salary-cap flexibility, but the market has not responded the way they had hoped. After a lukewarm Summer League, World Cup qualifiers and preseason showing, Dadiet has not built the kind of buzz that usually helps a player become a useful trade chip.
For the Knicks, that leaves a familiar front office problem: trying to turn a roster logjam into a clean solution without paying too high a price. There has been no concrete deal reported, and the lack of outside interest suggests New York may have to get creative to get anything done. For now, Dadiet remains on the roster and the team is still looking for a path forward that fits both the cap sheet and the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]