The Knicks’ search for frontcourt help has already run into a wall.
After ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that Mitchell Robinson was headed to the Boston Celtics on a three-year, $47 million deal, New York moved quickly to explore the market for a replacement. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, that search led the Knicks to New Orleans and its young center, Yves Missi.
It didn’t get very far.
“Sources: New York Knicks have tried feverishly to trade for New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi after losing Mitchell Robinson, but offers have been rejected multiple times,” Haynes wrote on X/Twitter Thursday. “Pelicans view Missi as a vital core figure, and the message is that he’s unavailable.”
The Pelicans have apparently shut the door on more than just New York, too. SNY’s Ian Begley reported last Tuesday that the Lakers also checked in on Missi and were turned away.
“ Multiple teams, including the Lakers, have reached out to the Pelicans about Yves Missi, but the Pelicans have resisted those offers,” Begley wrote.
For now, New Orleans is treating Missi like a player it plans to keep around. The Baylor product is seen as a developmental big with upside on both ends, and his rookie season gave the Pelicans a reason to hold firm.
In 66 games, Missi averaged 5.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 54.4% from the field.
The Lakers at least addressed their own frontcourt situation by landing Walker Kessler on Wednesday, but the Knicks are still left hunting for another low-post option after coming up empty on Missi.
In Other News...
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The East may look familiar on paper, but the offseason has already changed the feel of the race, and not in a way the Knicks can ignore. A fresh set of rankings around the conference points to a league where major trades and roster reshuffling have turned several playoff hopefuls into something more dangerous, with contenders getting sharper at the top and the middle of the bracket becoming harder to sort out before opening night.
For New York, the bigger concern is not just who improved, but how many rivals now enter the season with a clearer path to winning in the spring. The analysis around the conference weighs roster strength, coaching changes and new arrivals across the board, and the Knicks are left measuring themselves against a field that suddenly looks deeper, sturdier and less forgiving than expected, even before the first real test arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Face A Brutal Deuce McBride Decision Again
Deuce McBride keeps surfacing in the Knicks roster math because he is one of the few movable pieces on a team that has gotten expensive in a hurry. His value is easy to see: he has given New York steady guard play, reliable minutes and a skill set that fits the way this roster wants to operate, all while playing on a contract that remains friendly enough to make him part of bigger conversations.
The problem is that those same traits make him hard to part with, even if the Knicks keep weighing whether he could be the most realistic way to bring back frontcourt help. The front office could use more size, more rebounding or a cleaner path behind the starting center spot, but every time McBride comes up in the trade pile, it is a reminder of how thin the margin is between preserving backcourt depth and chasing a roster fix that addresses a bigger weakness. [Read more 🡒]