New York Knicks Receive: G Dejounte Murray
San Antonio Spurs Receive: C Mitchell Robinson, F Obi Toppin, NYK 2021 1st Round Pick (Pick #19)
With Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV, Tre Jones and Devin Vassell all being backcourt options for the Spurs and the potential that San Antonio adds another guard to their roster with the 12th pick in the draft, they could actually look to leverage one of their young players now while his value is high.
San Antonio does not need more backcourt players, but they will be thin in their frontcourt if both DeRozan and Gay leave in free agency. Jakob Poeltl was a solid contributor at the center position, but right now, he is pretty much the only experienced player the Spurs have in their frontcourt.
Adding Mitchell Robinson gives the Spurs another strong interior presence on both ends of the court and adding Obi Toppin gives the Spurs a true, young and athletic power-forward to build with as part of their young core. San Antonio was high on Toppin last year in the draft, but they held the 11th pick and were unable to draft him since he ended up going 8th overall to the Knicks.
Bringing in two new, young frontcourt players to their roster definitely has its advantages for the Spurs, as does adding the 19th pick in the draft to their roster.
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With the 12th and 19th picks, San Antonio could possibly look to move up in the draft to take a player they have had their eyes on, or they could keep both picks in order to draft two young players to rebuild with.
Right now, unless they bring back DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs are not a playoff-caliber team in the Western Conference, which is why they need to make the necessary moves to set themselves up for long-term success.
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Trading a valuable player in Murray could hurt the Spurs seeing as he is one of their better players under contract, but if they are planning on taking a guard like Josh Giddey 12th overall, then there really is no need to keep both Dejounte Murray and Derrick White.
The Spurs could use some more help on the interior in their frontcourt and the Knicks could really use a two-way point guard like Dejounte Murray, which is why there could be some mutual interest here. Let’s take a look at this trade from both teams perspective and see if this is truly a trade that makes sense for both the Knicks and Spurs.
